Arrow through your heart
by Onyx.Duchess
Summary: Greek gods and myths that is Haruno Sakura's only obsession, besides archery. Everything was already perfect for this pink-haired spitfire, that was until she met her worst enemy, that new guy, Uchiha Sasuke...
1. Eris

_**blackheart01 has signed in.**_

**blackheart01: Hello there readers! Welcome to the first ever fanfic made by yours truly and by the duchess of doom...**

**_IamMediocrity has signed in._**

**IamMediocrity: how d'yo! Duchess of doom here... and welcome to our room! oh, nice intro blackheart01.. fufu! I just felt so royal by that..=p**

**blackheart01: Yeah..makes me want to add something royal in my pen name as well...Hmm...(tries to list down royal names..)**

**Anyways, let's go on with the story... This is for all those Naruto, myths, and somehow random lovers! Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER APPLIED: We don't own Naruto... except this story's plot.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**-o-o-Eris: Goddess of Discord-o-o-**

**...**

_"Kendrikos fakos_." Sakura muttered after seeing the last arrow she had launched pierced at the center of the practice target. She plastered a satisfied smile that had gone immediately after sparing a look at the grey-black sky. A storm is brewing, evidently seen by the pile of clouds building up that looked heavy and thick.

Cold wind chilled her as it touches her silky skin, making tiny hairs rise. "I hope you're not coming any time soon, _Notus." _she mumbled under shaky breath, clasping more firmly at her bow. "I still have to punish a tardy jerk today." The heavens appeared to understand her as it sends wind ruffling her hair. Which for her, was the God of the South wind himself.

Sasuke came panting, waited for his breathing to go back to normal again then put his hands on his pockets. "Hey Weirdo." he uttered sardonically as he encounters the girl's deadly glares. "What?" he asked, although he knew what the answer is; he just wants to annoy the pinkette.

The girl rolled a fist, narrowed her eyes on him and spoke in a controlled manner; "You want me to smack you?" after saying this, lightning jagged down from the sky behind her. It briefly put parts of her face into the shadows, almost like a silhouette. Her eyes glowed hatred in spite of the dark, like a furious cat ready to pounce in. She is seriously dangerous.

"SMACK is like a KISS right?" the Uchiha countered wittily then hunched his back a little and displayed a crabby look. But this just angered her more. She threw her bow which was on her right hand, out of despise. It plummeted like a boomerang that Sakura thought it would come back to her, but it landed on the grass. The thunder rolled, deafening them. To Sakura, it was a warning. A warning to not break an oath.

Sasuke frowned at the sight of the girl's face slowly softening; the dagger looks into cold expression, the twitches have gone but her arms crossed as if to prevent herself from raging. "Where in _Hades_ have you been? Do you have any idea how long I have waited here? Too long that it took the weather to change!" As if to prove her point, lightning strike again. "Do you seriously think you are _that_ special?"

"Then why didn't you leave?" Sasuke replied cynically, tired of explaining since he knew it wouldn't matter to her. Then an idea zap on his brain; an idea that would shake all the self-restraint she have. To start with; he showed her his all-girls-couldn't-resist type of smile. The girl's brow instantly met which confirmed that _it _(the smile) had an effect on her. "Do you wanna know how I make a noisy girl shut up?" he said, still displaying a naughty grin.

"Boy, are you nuts." Sakura said flatly, rolling her eyes. _What is he doing? _she thought, feeling a little nervous as the time passes. She almost bulged her eyes when she became aware of their distance. The guy is an inch away from her!

He looked at her intently. Eye to eye. "Wanna know?" still pressing on the question. He raised his hand to touch her hair, the girl stood frozen. His hands soon traveled from her hair to her chin, tilting it to make her look at him. He leaned and stopped halfway, studying her.

"Okay, how?" she asked, just a bit stoic. Mentally, she slapped herself. What if the Uchiha's serious? _I shouldn't have dared him_, her inner said regretfully. Unbeknownst to him, she's trembling inside. No one has been this close to her and the feeling's new to her.

His lips stretched, forming a familiar smile. Not a mischievous grin, but a smirk. The rain fell before them, but they stood there unmoving; eyes challenging...

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><p><strong>...<strong>

"_Mythology is a modern man's dreams…" _Sakura mumbled the line on the hard cover; looking and caressing simultaneously the book she brought. It was one of her 'collections' of Myth books and definitely one of the firsts. Probably you've been thinking if she has thousands of Myth-related books at home? You bet.

She was walking wistfully or even gliding, along the corridor looking past at the students. The kind of reaction a myth book can draw out of her. It was nearly half an hour before classes start so she still have time to indulge in her 'other-worldly' activities.

"Hey, hurry up!" a random student at her back, yelled. That made her get back to the real world. She looked back to check if she's the one been barking at, and she's right. She made a humble nod and apologized at the pissed girl, even though she's not sure if she need to because; as far as she know, it is legal to walk slow. Right?

WHAM!

She just bumped or has been bumped by someone. Anyways, it doesn't matter anymore. _"Ai!" _she squeaked, Greek language just came out of her. A side part of her body is seriously aching. She have dropped her book because of that. "Hey, watch it! Are you blind?" she snapped angrily at the guy that is not familiar to her. He must be a new student. Oh no. "Where is it?" she uttered, alarmed. Her book is not on the floor! She begins to kneel down and look for the lost belonging, it must still be on the area.

"Uhm, hello?" the guy asked her, plastering a bored face while showing her the reading material she's looking for. Raven-hair and onyx eyes. That's what she observe upon looking at the teen. Well, that's aside from the fact that he is seriously handsome even on his unconcerned look. _Is it only me or he's really radiating light?_ She immediately stand up and shove dirt on her knee. _Impossible, he ought to have a golden hair to shine... Oh Sakura, get your head back to Earth!_

Her jaw almost drop when she saw how the guy is holding her 'precious' book. "Hey, be careful with that! Give that to me!" she tried to snatch it but the guy raise it high, out of her reach; holding only 3-4 pages of the book! "I told you to-" she heard a faint rip of the paper. She looked at her page which has a picture of her favorite patron goddess' in the verge of destruction, that just made her blood rise to her head. "How dare you put a slit on Artemis' face, you low-level creature?"

"Who are you calling low-life, you little klutz?" the raven-haired boy narrowed his eyes at her, all thoughts of apologizing for the ripped page, gone from his mind.

"It's obviously you, brainless!" she spat.

"I don't usually disrespect women but with a sharp tongue like that, I doubt it if you're even a girl." he retorted.

"Whatever." she rolled her eyes, getting impatient "Just give me back my book."

"Oh, I'll give it to you all right." he smirked "But right after, I make a few adjustments."

Sakura was about to demand what he meant, when the guy suddenly started to flip some pages then crumpled them into ugly, fistful clumps. Due to its oldness, a couple of pages were completely torn to shreds. Her eyes grew wide and a gasp left her mouth, when he was finally done and threw the book. It skittered sideways hitting the wall to a stop about 15 ft. away from them.

Sakura immediately ran and picked up the worn out book on the floor and the torn pages scattered around it, afraid that someone might step on them. She was about to beat the arrogant jerk to a bloody pulp, but he was no longer there when she stood up.

"He will definitely pay for this." she swore to herself, her free hand tightening into a fist.

-0000000000-

"..If I _ever_ see that bastard again...I swear I'm gonna tear him from limb to every _pathetic_ limb!..."Sakura says through gritted teeth, as her hands smoothed out the crumpled pages of her beloved book, but to no avail.

"Sakura-chan?"

_"What?" _she snapped angrily at the person behind her, not bothering to turn her head.

"Uhm... Is something wrong?" It was girl's soft voice that got her to look up.

"Oh, Hinata-chan, it's you! I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean it" Sakura apologized quickly.

"Don't worry. It's okay" Hinata reassured her with a smile as she sat down next to Sakura's chair since they were seatmates. Hinata Hyuuga was one of her closest friends in school. She had a long midnight blue hair, light purple eyes and soft, pale skin. She came from a wealthy and respected family in Japan. Despite her family's strict attitude, Hinata is a very gentle and thoughtful friend to her. She used to be extremely shy, but it somehow lessened when she became close to Sakura.

They were currently inside their classroom for Homeroom and waiting for the bell to ring, which indicated the start of the class. Sakura spent all her free time on trying to salvage of what was left of her ruined book for almost an hour now.

"So... what happened?" Hinata asked curiously, while the pinkette continued on carefully flatting the surfaces of some of the crumpled pages, and sometimes putting up some scotch tapes to re-attach some of the ripped pages back to its original place.

Sakura's eyes narrowed in irritation as the sudden memory of what happened by the hallways this morning crept up to her mind's view.

She wore a grim expression. "I met a really, really rude jerk today" She had to calm down a few seconds to prevent herself from worsening the book's condition under her shaky hands.

"And?" Hinata pressed cautiously.

"Well, I accidentally bumped into him this morning, and he thought he had the right to destroy my book in spite the fact that I didn't do anything to him..._yet_!" Sakura almost yelled in anger as she showed the Hyuuga heir the damaged reading material.

Hinata held a perplexed expression. "Is that your Myth Book?" She knew how important it was for Sakura. The girl rarely allows people to touch it, even her.

"I wish it wasn't" Sakura groaned, exasperated, hugging her book close to her chest. "If I find that-that abhorrent excuse for a guy, I'll seriously throw him to the pits of Tartarus with a bunch of hellhounds to rip him to pieces!"

Hinata sweatdropped. She wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or feel pity for the enraged pink-haired girl. She knew the girl's obsession with mythological creatures and Greek Gods. Even before they became friends, Sakura's first companion was her Myth Book.

"That's pretty harsh, don't you think?"

"Nope. He deserves it."

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><p><strong>...<strong>

Mr. Iruka Umino, their homeroom adviser came exactly after the bell rung. He made a short announcement that they're going to have a new transferred student in class. Sakura wasn't actually paying attention as she was doodling at the back of her notebook. But when the guy came in and spoke, her gaze completely focused on him.

"Please tell the class your name" Mr. Iruka says, gesturing his hand at the students in front of them.

The boy gave out a brief nod before facing the class. "My name's Uchiha Sasuke"

Almost all of the female students swooned not only at the gorgeous sight of him, or his irresistible, mysterious aura but also at his no non-sense, deep, silky voice.

"It's _him_" she mumbled to herself, unconsciously snapping the pencil in her hand into two. It didn't went unnoticed to her seatmate and somehow, Hinata had a vague idea of the reason behind Sakura's stunned reaction.

"Sakura-chan? Tell me if I'm wrong but, is that the guy you mentioned to me earlier?" she asked when she saw that the whole class' interest was on the raven-haired boy.

Sakura could only nod. Slowly, her lips stretched to an evil smile. Hinata very well knows that look. And even though she knew the answer, she had this urge to ask the pinkette. "What are you thinking Sakura-chan?" she queried timidly, sensing the dark energy around her friend.

"The Gods are in my favor today..."

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><p><strong>IamMediocrity<strong>: **Oh,that's scary huh?**

**blackheart01: (nods) A little bit ... I wonder what Sakura-chan will do?**

**IamMediocrity**: **That's something you and I know,right? =p And,p****lease do comment! We need that. Also, if you have suggestions, questions or violent reactions (maybe) you could tell us.**

**blackheart01: Right, but please not much on the violent reactions, 'kay?**

************IamMediocrity**: Oh well, see you on the next chap and MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! HAPPY NEW YEAR too! Hopefully,we could post the next chap ASAP.**************so,bye now!****************

************_IamMediocrity has signed out._************

************_blackheart01 has signed out._************

**11:03 pm DST (still christmas!) =p**

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><p>*extra notes*<p>

_Ai!_- Greek cry of pain.

_Kendrikos fakos- _Greek word for _Bull's eye!_

Notus- God of the South Wind; i watched a TV series before wherein Zeus called him the God of Rain in sending a great flood that punished the people in Philemon and Baucis' time; so I used him in here.

Hades- HE was used in the story as a substitute for Hell.


	2. Nemesis

**_blackheart01 has signed in._**

**_Iam__Mediocrity has signed in._**

**IamMediocrity : Hi there! we're sooo sorry for the late update and I blame my laziness for that.. LOL. Anyway, I dont have much to say really but for you to enjoy this chap and... Share the love!Something to share : Rick Riordan is up for another story! He'll be making a story based on Norse Myth this time. **

**blackheart01: Wow, I thought I'd never finish this one! Anyways, duchess, the third chapter's on your hands now! Bwahahahaha! Be prepared for the writer's block! (grins evilly)**

****IamMediocrity : (sweat drops) Epic fail. =p Anyway, I'd like to mention the first two mortals who took time in giving their review : BloodyAwesome47 and sasusakuForever13! ****

**DISCLAIMER APPLIED... ^_^**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**-o-o-Nemesis: Goddess of Revenge-o-o-**

**...**

"Where the hell is it?" Sasuke muttered to himself, looking around the empty classroom.

"Hey new guy, watcha lookin' for?" one of his classmates asked, watching the raven-haired boy searching for something. His name was Uzumaki Naruto. He had blonde spiky hair, blue eyes that showed mischief and a seriously loud mouth that Sasuke finds annoying the first time he talked to him.

On a normal day, he probably wouldn't reply because it will lead to more babbling, but he needed help at the moment. "My bag. Have you seen it?"

"Hmm" Naruto tapped his chin with his finger thinking "Nope. When was the last time you saw it?"

"Just a while ago. I left it when I went to the comfort room." he sighed, deciding that he'll never leave his bag in the classroom anymore when he finds it.

Just then, Nara Shikamaru, one of their classmates, who had a brown, pineapple-shaped hair and dark eyes, entered the room in a slow pace. Sasuke learned that the boy was known in school to be a genius despite his obvious lazy attitude.

"'Morning Shikamaru!" Naruto greeted, waving a hand in Shikamaru's direction.

"Ohayou" Shikamaru replied briefly. "What's up with Uchiha?" his eyebrow raised at the sight of Sasuke looking under the chairs.

"Oh, he lost his bag." Naruto answered.

"His bag, huh?" he mumbled. "Is it black in color, about this big, with an uchiwa fan design on the front side, and a little rectangular in shape?" the boy asked, his hands in front of him as if he was holding an invisible shape.

"Yes. You've seen it then?" Sasuke asked, feeling somewhat relieved.

Shikamaru sighed. "Come on. I'll show it to you."

Sasuke, including Naruto got curious so they followed the lazy genius outside towards the school grounds. When they reached their destination, Shikamaru stopped into an abrupt halt and pointed out his finger up the school building's wall clock. Above it, was none other than Sasuke's bag, pinned to the wall by an arrow.

"Your bag."

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><p><strong>...<strong>

"Woah! How did that get there?" Naruto exclaimed, amazed at how Sasuke's bag was nailed at a very unreachable place, the silver arrow glinting under the sun.

"Whoever did that is very creative." Shikamaru commented, shoving his hands inside his pockets.

"Whoever did it is gonna be dead." Sasuke growled, highly annoyed.

They heard the faint sound of footsteps coming their way, causing them to turn around. There they saw a pink-haired girl converging towards them, her pace giving out the impression that she had all the time in the world, and her face quite looking deprived of sleep. Her form was a bit hunched, but oddly enough, it didn't loosen her gracefulness and posture. When she looked up from the ground, her expression brightened up a little at the sight of familiar faces, but it was completely overruled by irritation when her eyes fell upon the raven-haired Uchiha, which placed a light frown on her face.

"Hey guys, what's with all the commotion?" Sakura's voice asked from behind them. They all caught her yawning before Naruto answered.

"Someone played a prank on the new guy." Naruto pointed Sasuke's bag up the building. Sakura followed his finger that was pointing upwards.

"Hmm..." a small smirk played on her lips despite her sleepy expression. "'Serves him right."

Sasuke scowled at her. "Something tells me you know who did this."

"What if I do?" she challenged, walking past him, towards Shikamaru and Naruto's side. "I'd like to thank the person who did that. They just made my day better."

"Sakura..." Shikamaru says almost in a scolding tone, which made Sasuke puzzled.

Sakura grinned impishly, backing away from them, palms up. "I'm just kidding senpai. Besides, I just arrived here."

Shikamaru simply heaved a sigh. " Naruto, help Uchiha-san get the maintenance guy." he ordered before turning to the pinkette. "And you, get inside, I'll need to speak to you later after this."

"Alright" Naruto shrugged. "Come on, new guy." he called Sasuke who followed after him.

"Whatever." Sakura muttered, walking towards the building but not before they heard her say. "Ah...what a nice way to start the morning!"

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"What am I gonna do with all these junks? All my things have holes in them." Sasuke mumbled, taking out all his school supplies. Both the bag and his books and notebooks were scattered uselessly on top of his desk. Not one was saved from the arrow's piercing.

"You could always buy some new ones." Naruto says beside him, holding one of Sasuke's books, tracing his finger at the hole and poking through it.

"That's not the problem. How am I supposed to pass my homework, or take up notes if they all look like this?" he grunted.

Although it wasn't obvious, Sasuke's top priority was his studies, and by now he's calculating how much time he'd have to spend on re-writing his assignments.

"No need to worry. I'll lend you some blank notebooks of mine. You could write our lessons there and transfer it to your new notebooks later at home. And for your homeworks, well... I think you're a fast writer anyways, so I'll just give you some papers and you could re-write them and the other ones during lunch for the other subjects upcoming." Naruto suggested, while grinning from ear to ear as he started to rummage his bagpack.

Sasuke tilted his head to the side a little, wondering how this blubbering loudmouth could actually manage to make a good suggestion. He was about to give him a compliment when a thought came into his mind.

"Wait, why do you have blank notebooks?" he asked curiously.

"Eh..heheh...well, I'm not really the type who likes writing down notes, actually." Naruto scratched the back of his head, laughing nervously.

Sasuke smirked, shaking his head. "Figures."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto yelled out indignantly.

"Hn." Sasuke replied ignoring Naruto's outburst, taking out a couple of notebooks from Naruto's hand. "By the way, do you have any idea who might've done this?" Sasuke asked, indicating the silver arrow he was twirling slowly with his lithe fingers, and looking pointedly at his skewered possessions.

"U-Uhm... I'm not sure." Naruto scratched the back of his head, looking away nervously. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously, but before he could open his mouth to say anything, a feminine voice rang out, making both males turn their heads at the source.

"We do."

Both of them saw three female students, probably the same age as them, standing by the door. Having a sharp memory, Sasuke knew none of them were one of his classmates, so they may have come from another class. He scowled at the way they were staring- _ogling _at him.

_Oh great, fangirls_, Sasuke inwardly growled. And it was just his second day at school and... oh well, that's actually a record breaker already, compared to his previous school where it only took about two and a half hours for fangirls within a 50meter radius to know his presence.

The girl in the middle who had long, red-hair and a thick rimmed glass, walked forward followed by her friends, one with blonde curly hair and the other with a short bob-cut brunette hair. They all gave out a discreet squeals when he glanced their way.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun! I'm Karin by the way. This is Risa... " she gestured at the blonde "...and this is Hikaru." she pointed at the brunette who waved excitedly at the boy "We're from class 2F. We just came to say...You look handsome today!" the girl with red hair winked flirtatiously at him. Despite the fact that the girl was wearing those awfully thick glasses, she didn't look like a nerd. _More like a bitch, or a slut..hmm...maybe both_, Sasuke thought idly, as he gazed at them with a bored expression plastered on his face.

"You just wasted both our times then." Sasuke said plaintively in a dismissive tone.

"Neh, Sasuke-kun, we do know who did it!" Karin whined, which annoyed the young Uchiha more.

"Who?" he scowled.

"There is only one club here in the campus that uses arrows. And that would be the Silver Hunters." Karin said smugly, as if she solved world hunger.

"The what?"

"The Silver Hunters is this school's archery club. They're pretty popular here as well." the blonde one stated, dreamily staring at Sasuke, which was completely ignored.

"Where can I find them?"

"They're located at the forest part of the school grounds, but if you want better access, you can always ask your friend there to let you through." the brunette stated. Hers and her companions' eyes turned towards Sasuke's side.

"My friend?" Sasuke frowned, puzzled.

"Uzumaki Naruto" Karin pointed out a manicured finger at the blonde next to the dark-haired boy, who was face-palming his head while groaning '_Damn!' _repeatedly under his breath. "A certified member of the Silver Hunters Club!"

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

Sakura shifted her weight on her feet as she looked up at Shikamaru, who was staring at her with a stern expression plastered on his face. They were currently inside Shikamaru's empty classroom which is one floor higher than Sakura's classroom. The fifth and sixth floor actually belongs to the juniors. There are two floors dedicated for each years and since Sakura is a sophomore, hers was at the fourth floor.

"Well?" the lazy genius prompted, as he leaned his back by the wall, his classroom door next to him.

The girl stared back at him from across the hall, her back against the window. "Well what senpai?" she asked back, before clearing the guilty lump from her throat.

"You know what I'm talking about Sakura. Please don't play dumb around me. You know how I hate that." Shikamaru frowned at the girl.

"Are you talking about how I treated that Uchiha guy this morning? I know I promised to keep my temper in check whenever there's a guy involved. I just can't help it. That guy's a total jerk! Can't you just make him an exception?" she ranted on, throwing her hands up in the air out of frustration.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her sudden outburst. "That's not what I'm talking about."

The pinketted blinked back at him with an innocent look. "Then what is it then?"

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"Seriously?" Sasuke asked skeptical, while looking at Naruto who was avoiding an eye contact.

"Yes. In fact, he was nicknamed "_Arrowsmith_". Risa started saying, regarding Naruto with a sneer. "Well, there's two of them that's specialized in their weaponry. He is on the crafting part."

"The other one has quite a resemblance of you..." Hikaru looked wistful, and Sasuke just have an idea that this kinda-look-a-like of him is a looker too. "His name's Sai, he's mostly on the designing." Her two friends just eyed her for making an unnecessary comment, and that was she needed to look down and think twice of her words.

Sasuke's brows met. Although he didnt say a thing, he doesn't want to believe these girls. Naruto seemed like a trustworthy guy compared to them, despite his carefree and idiotic attitude. But the way he can't make direct eye-contact with him made him want to think twice.

"So, if there's a person here who could recognize that arrow... that would be him." Karin suggested and Sasuke was a bit surprised that this girl can actually say something with sense. He's just not sure if this happened rarely. Unfortunately, it does. [a/n: Oh, we're so in favor with Karin... duh.]

"Now," he turned to Naruto. "Tell me, who did this?" He inquired, arrow laid in his hands; waiting for the blond boy to confess.

The blonde Uzumaki glared at the three nosy girls before sighing, his eyes fell upon the silver arrow. He hesitated and picked it up from Sasuke's palm. It only took him ten seconds to study it, before he placed it down on his desk. Naruto shook his head, his face bearing a light frown as if in disbelief, before uttering the name of the arrow owner.

"It's Sakura-chan's arrow..."

* * *

><p><strong><em>...<em>**

_"WHAT?" _Sakura's indignant shout bounced off the walls of the quiet hallways as her eyes widened, disbelievingly at her upperclassman.

"So..." Shikamaru started slowly, "... it wasn't you?"

"How can you think I would do such an irrational and childish prank like that, senpai?" Sakura demanded.

"It seems like you don't like Uchiha-san-"

"Very much." she growled, effectively cutting him off.

"Plus, we both saw the silver arrow." Shikamaru continued. "You're the only one who uses that. Naruto and Sai customized that for you when you joined the team."

"I don't know how it got there. I double-checked it yesterday before going home and all my arrows were complete. If I'm the one who did that, then shouldn't I be more discreet on doing it without leaving any evidence pointing to myself?" Sakura reasoned out.

Shikamaru contemplated on his kouhei's reasoning, before asking his final question, "Where were you this morning before you came here?"

Sakura didn't bother making excuses and went straight to the truth. "I was at the forest, I made a prayer to a certain goddess by the sacrificial grounds." she said seriously.

Shikamaru sighed. If anyone who doesn't know Sakura heard her now, they might've imagined the girl with a baby lamb and sacrificing it to some imaginary god while holding out a knife and butchering said baby lamb. In reality, the girl actually meant their clubs bronze hearth located at the back of their training grounds. It used to be used to light up the forest during their club's little games during school breaks. But due to Sakura's addiction to Myths, she proclaimed that spot a sacred ground where she prays to any Myth god she likes and/or make _'offerings'_-which translates to burning some food she brought with her.

"Mind telling me who it is this time?" he asked wearily. Even though he was already used to this for almost a year and a half now, he still feels weird when he pretends to take Sakura seriously on her belief.

"Nemesis." Sakura solemnly answered.

By this time, Shikamaru had memorized all those Greek and Roman gods and their stories, whether he liked it or not. Mainly cause of Sakura's influence and from his intelligent mind's quick absorption to information, no matter how important or irrelevant the matter is. He easily knew who the goddess Nemesis stands for.

"Why her?"

"Because she's the one who can avenge for me. And by the looks of it, my prayers were answered this morning. That's why I said that I'm thankful for whoever made the prank on Uchiha today." the pinkette simply answered.

The lazy genius of Konoha High sweat dropped at her statement. It was both silly and amusing to hear Sakura's explanation that is always connected to Myths and whatnot. "Fine, I guess you're not the one then."

The girl nodded in confirmation. "You know that's not how Artemis fights. She faces her opponents head on and would never resort to cunning tricks like that." she stated this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I think someone's trying to blackmail you." Shikamaru deduced, it didn't surprised him though when Sakura shrugged it off nonchalantly and started to push herself of the window.

"It doesn't matter. Anyways, I need to go now senpai. Homeroom starts in fifteen minutes. See you at practice, neh?" she waved her hand as she started to walk towards the stairs leading to the sophomore floor.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru mumbled under his breath as he stared at Sakura's retreating form.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

By the time Sakura arrived at her Homeroom, there were already a few people there. Some by their seats busying themselves and some were chatting enthusiastically with their friends/classmates. It only occurred to Sakura that someone's eyes were directed on her, when the owner of said eyes called her name.

"Oi Haruno." someone hissed from her side. She turned, only to have her arm yanked roughly to the side. Sakura saw a couple of angry obsidian orbs glaring at her own emerald ones.

To any normal girl, their first reaction would either be fear, embarrassment or delight by being held by the handsome Uchiha. But you see, Haruno Sakura isn't any ordinary girl. So instead of Sasuke's expected scared stutter coming from the girl, he was _almost_ startled to see the girl return his dagger look and growled at him in a poorly-contained furious voice.

_"Let go."_ she hissed in a tone laced in hatred.

"Hn." was all Sasuke said, when a loud yell interrupted their intense glaring.

"SAKURA-CHAN! Calm down! Oi SASUKE! You bastard, don't touch her!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, as he tried to get pass his classmates who were already huddled around the two, apparently, their supposed-to-be silent confrontation was not missed by the class. But both of them were ignoring the people around them.

"Why did you do that to my things?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep his voice even. Despite his irritation on the girl, she was still a female and it's not like him to hurt the opposite gender. Perhaps, scare her a bit but not inflict physical pain on her. It would be against his morals.

Sakura paused looking clueless for a second before replying. "Why did you do that to **_my_** things?" she asked back the same inquiry but referring to what had happened yesterday.

"Stop being annoying and answer me." Sasuke said, disregarding her question to him.

"And what if I don't?" she snapped. **_Keep it cool, Sakura. Don't let him get to you. You're better than this. Control yourself,_** Sakura thought, as she gripped her free hand tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"I'll make your life a living hell, pinky." he simply replied in a monotonous manner.

**_All right that does it! I'll consider this as a sign that Lady Nemesis has allowed me to do my revenge with my own hands!, _**she concluded inwardly, her resolve already setting, as her grip on her hand relax for a second and then tightened again.

_"Don't call me that or else..."_ she warned.

"Or else what _PINKY?_" he mocked, not seeing her lips set into an evil smirk, before her fist was connected to his vulnerable face.

**_That's how a maiden of Artemis fights back, senpai..._**

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><p><strong>blackheart01: Thanks for reading! Read and review please? v_(^w^)<strong>

**IamMediocrity: Once again, sorry for the late update. But the chapter is long, isn't it? Anyways, keep on reading. **


	3. Themis

_**Duchess has signed in.**_

_**blackheart01 has signed in.**_

**BH01: Scatter thoughts? Oh yeah. By the way, thanks for the reviews! We really appreciate them ^_^ Although, we do apologize for the delay of the new chap. We've been too busy with work...uhh...yeah T.T'**

**Duchess: Anyway, you guys.. please dont check my own story yet.. It's ridiculously written. I am revising it at the moment, o'right? But thanks for the alerts and for the review. (wink) Soooo Sorry for the laaate update for this story though.. I just have to catch my 'author soul', it just escaped..so I had mental blocks all this time..And busy earning money. LOL**

**BH01: Also, thanks a bunch for those who reviewed _His Bodyguard_, I'll update it soon, I won't promise cause I seem to be breaking my promises a lot, but do expect it would be coming...probably by June?**

**Moving forward...Enjoy reading! ;)**

**Disclaimer Applied.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**-o-o-Themis: Titan Goddess of Justice-o-o-**

**...**

There's a reason for an academy to be one of the top schools throughout the country: bright students; and it's not surprising that Konoha High are among them. Admitting only deserving students every year to impart their knowledge to, their population is kept to a minimum to ensure that every student was closely monitored. Their tuition is worth the pay coz the students excels, or at least; get a place in every aspect — whether sports or academic. If there's one thing that's commendable about the campus is their strict compliance to good manners and right conduct.

So, hitting your classmate at an early time of the day in front of a snooping crowd? _Not recommended_.

Well, it's not that Sakura regretted getting even with her worst enemy. In fact, she is way happy. Needless to say, she is satisfied and she didn't care showing it as she threw the transferee a smug look. **_Make my life a living hell huh?_** She thought.

Sasuke's eyes grew wide in surprise for a millisecond, not even bothering with the pain that Sakura's punch made. Never in his life was he punched by someone-moreover a _girl _ever. He was taught how to fight well even from childhood. He should have anticipated that direct assault from her because of his keen foresight.

He looked up at the girl who was smirking contentedly at him through half-lidded-still angry eyes. The bright spark from her emerald eyes made her look more dangerous and Sasuke was...intrigued.

The audiences— which is mostly of girls who were just about to either greet or get the attention of the new guy and apparently, the new apple of their eyes that morning — concurrently got wide-eyed in shock and groaned as they witnessed the face (they've considered a work of art) Just. Got. Punched.

Something they can't pass.

Instantly, the room was filled with audible protests and contempt for her.

"How could she!" Some girl wailed.

"What's gotten into her?" Someone surreptitiously asked.

"Are you crazy?" she heard one shouted.

She ignored all that. She even narrowed her eyes at them, thinking why they are so into the situation when in the first place; they're not included. The girls seemed to have shrunk to where they were standing when Sakura threw them a fatal, dark glare.

Turning back to Sasuke, who gritted his teeth for a second, and then grabbed both of her wrists forcefully despite of her struggle. "What the hell was that for _Pinky?_" he grunted, pinning her to the concrete wall. She was unprepared for this, moreover to learn how strong the guy is. Nevertheless, she ignored it.

"That's for destroying my book!" Sakura growled, countering the guy's dagger looks.

He frowned for a second. _"Why did you do that to **my** things?"_ The Uchiha youth twitched at the girl's answer earlier, finally concocting in his mind that this girl (who is currently glaring while moving violently to disentangle from him) has all the reason to do such things. This is the girl, the sharp-mouthed girl he crossed paths with yesterday; who was so aggravated when he happened to… uh, _sort of_ tear the… What is it again? Artemis' face? He smirked inwardly.

"So, you're that _Weirdo?_" He asked almost rhetorically, (to his surprise that he voiced it out) provoking her more.

Before Sakura could react, Naruto suddenly chimed. "Sasuke, stop it! Don't call her that!" He sweat dropped after glancing at Sakura who's looking deadlier and deadlier by the minute. Nobody label her that, in spite of her known addiction to Greek myths. No one did and no one will, after what they've witnessed.

Ignoring the loud blonde boy, he turned to Sakura with a conceited smile on his face. He gripped tighter to her wrists and decreased the distance of their faces. It's his time to retaliate in his own way. When you say getting even with a girl, to Sasuke it means emotional harm (by infuriating) or it could be mental toying. "Make me, _Weirdo._" He challenged, whispering in her ears.

"Curse you." She said emphasizing every word while the sky flashed the brightest lightning.

**-0-0-0-**

Sakura was about to teach the Uchiha a lesson —again, when their adviser came into the scene. He was initially calm when he asked them what's happening, but when he looked at Sasuke's bloated face and to Sakura's _closeness_ to the wall; he suddenly became angry. It didn't actually help that Naruto was defending her from the fan girls, making the room filled with noises. So to clear things up, here they are now—at the Principal's Office.

Sasuke expected that the school's principal would be an old, man with a calm yet stern exterior, but, to his little surprise, it was a woman probably in her early 30's that was sitting in the Principal's chair. She had blonde hair that was tied into two pigtails, hazel eyes and red lips. The most noticeable feature of her body was her seriously huge chest that was neatly tucked in by her office attire. The blonde woman stared at them with boredom in her eyes, the side of her face supported by her palm, while her elbow was resting on the table.

"What did actually happen?" Tsunade started.

"That guy suddenly came to me, accusing me of something I didn't do." Sakura answered. She was seated at the right side, from across the Principal while Sasuke was in front of her by the left side.

"Is this true?" Tsunade asked.

"Partly. I was asking her, not accusing." Sasuke said in a monotonous voice.

"You said: What did _you _do to my things? Isn't that an accusation already?" she snapped, but the boy just looked away from her.

"So, why did you hit him? You do realize that we do not tolerate that kind of behavior here." Tsunade queried.

"He provoked me. Calling me names."

"Is this true?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow, turning to Sasuke. She knew of the girl's temper and well, the whole school knew. This was not the first time Sakura has been sent to the Principal's office because of getting into fights. It only lessened when she joined the Archery Club.

"I called her Pinky, but she pierced my things at the school clock yesterday."

"Is this true, Ms. Haruno?" This time the woman turned to the girl.

"I told you Ma'am, he was just accusing me." she said through gritted teeth, wanting to strangle Sasuke's neck if they weren't in front of the Principal.

The older woman sighed, sensing the pinkette's murderous aura. "What made you think that she did it?"

"Naruto told me it's her arrow." He reasoned out and Sakura made a mental note to deal with her friend later. Sasuke continued, "She's angry at me coz I happen to…destroy her book yesterday —"

"You purposely tore it!" she snapped.

"After you insulted me."

" 'Cause you—"

"Stop it." Tsunade said.

"Calling me brainless and all."

"Aren't you?"

"_Oi, _Stop it you two"

"And what's so special about that book anyway? It looked so ancient, that it's more suited to be placed in the dumpster."

"Why you-!" Sakura was about to stand from her seat, ready to pounce on Sasuke.

Of course, it wasn't only Sakura that has a very minimal amount of temper, Tsunade has had it with these two. A vein popped on her head as she gritted her teeth. The last thing she needed was a migraine coming from these two bickering students.

"ENOUGH!" Tsunade hit the table with both her palms to get their attention. Both teens looked a bit startled when they stared back at the only adult in the room. "BOTH OF YOU! TO DETENTION—NOW!"

It was expected that there will be protests, but nevertheless; they were sent to detention.

**-0-0-0-**

Second day of school— at detention, in spite of your innocence, with the most despicable creature (in her opinion) in the world; isn't any wonder why Sakura's face is crumpled?

_**Talk about bad luck... **_She grunted, can't resist rolling her eyes either because of the guy or her situation. She glared at the said annoying guy's direction, who was actually next to her, three seats away from her desk. They had been assigned to detention for one hour after classes for the whole month due to irritating-err...disrespecting Principal Tsunade when they were about to start another squabble in front of her. So instead of having her spending an hour on her precious archery practice, she got stuck here with the no good, arrogant jerk of an Uchiha.

"Sakura..." someone said.

"Nani desu ka, Kakashi-sensei?"

The girl reluctantly turned towards the owner of the voice, who was their Math professor, Hatake Kakashi. He was a tall guy that had silver hair sticking out of his head. Despite his hair color, he was actually younger than he looked. He only had one-eye showing while the other side was covered with an eye-patch, which no one really bothered to ask anymore because the last time someone did, Kakashi just gave out a blank look and gave them a 100-item pop quiz. Also he got this face mask that you usually see doctors or dentists wears on operations, still they never asked for a reason why since, not only did they get a blank look, and a pop quiz, but he gave them loads of homework even though it was only on a Monday.

The man's eye crinkled which was Sakura's only sign that he was sort-of smiling. "Please refrain from giving Uchiha-san your death glares. He might drop-dead on the spot, you know."

Sasuke, who was looking out the window boredly, gazed at the girl and catching her mutter, "_Good._" under her breath while slouching on her chair with a totally sour expression.

"What was that?" Kakashi asked in faked innocence, leaning forward and letting her get the view of what he was reading.

"Nothing, sensei." the girl sat up straight, and feigned a grin, while shaking her head quickly looking away.

Kakashi nodded once and went back to reading his orange book. Oh yeah, one thing you won't miss when Kakashi is around is that orange book he calls, "Icha Icha Paradise". Whether he was teaching, eating or even walking, his face was always glued on the said _book._ He always had this sinister gleam in his eyes and a creepy laugh (almost close to a giggle) whenever he reaches the _interesting _part. The scary part is, he keeps on threatening ...err, teasing her to take a peek on it everytime he gets the chance. For educational purpose he says, but she highly doubts it.

With a frown, Sakura took out her Myth book, scotch tape and scissor and started to work. Might as well make her time useful. She bit her lip when she opened the book, staring at its poor state for one-full minute before her hands carefully smoothed out the crumpled page. Moments later, you could hear the tape being torn out and the snipping of scissors. It was only her, the Uchiha and Kakashi that was in the room so it was easily heard. It was rare for anyone to get in detention anyway unless it would be Naruto, Kiba or Sakura, herself. She only lessened her troublemaking when she joined the Silver Hunters.

Intrigued at the sound, Kakashi looked over the pinkette and his eyes almost bulged out of its sockets when he saw what book Sakura was mending.

"I-Is that...?" Kakashi trailed off. Sakura gave him a grim look and made a quick glance at Sasuke. The blazing look in her eyes almost made the young Uchiha flinch. The short interaction was enough for the silver-haired man to know the story. As much as he loved and cherished his Icha-Icha books, he knew Sakura deeply valued her ancient book as well, no matter how old it looked or how heavy it was to bring it everywhere she goes.

"Oh, so that's why." the Math professor mumbled, giving Sasuke a disappointed and disapproving look.

Of course the boy was oblivious to this as his eyes were on the girl who was busily trying to fix her Myth Book. For a second though. "Dont look at me as if I'm the only one who destroyed something here." he stated cynically. Its not just Sakura who is disinterested in all of these anyway. He could have let himself be in silence for an hour but that is just dreadful even for a guy like him. Besides, he hasn't settle the score yet with this girl.

Sakura immediately sent dagger looks at him, closed fists. "How many times do I have to tell you I didn't do anything with your things! The hell I care with it!."

"As expected." he mumbled.

"What did you just say?"

"Did I say something?"

"I'm asking you, you're asking me?"

"Hn"

"What kind of response is that?"

"Hey, enough." Their sensei sighed. "How about this? You Sasuke, help her fix her book and then Sakura, you do the same to him. That would be quits then." he suggested.

"Sir, she also hit me. You don't expect me to do the same to her." he stated boredly looking at her, evidently not following the suggestion of his sensei.

"As if." she countered, throwing the same look at him.

As if on cue, Naruto barged into the room heaving. "Hey Sasuke! what are you doing to her?"

_Why does this guy doesn't know how to analyze the situation?_ he thought. "You're still asking that question even after she punched me?"

Naruto sweat dropped. "I warned you not to touch her, didn't I?"

"Hey, don't you think I've already forgot that you're the one who told this jerk that its my arrow." Sakura turned to him, cracking her knuckles.**  
><strong>

"S-sakura-sama, forgive me!" Naruto begging on his knees.

_What's with the 'sama' all of a sudden? _Sasuke said inwardly.

"By the way..." The Math professor interrupted, his attention is at Naruto's. "You're not supposed to be here. If the principal finds out-"

"Oba-san wouldn't mind." He cut off. "Say Sir Kakashi, would you like me to cause trouble to be in here?"

_Idiot. _The Uchiha thought.

Naruto suddenly exclaimed. "I almost forgot. I came here because I have something to tell you Sakura-chan."

"What is it?" she curiously asked.

"Captain is back!"

"WHAT?" It was all that Sakura could say.

"Yeah, and he already knows you're here. I told him-" After that, Naruto's screams of agony was heard throughout the room.

"She's really poor in anger management" Kakashi mumbled to himself, sweatdropping.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"Sakura-chaaan..." a blonde loudmouth whined at Sakura's side, as he rubbed his sore head. He was sporting a black-eye and a huge bump in the head. Both of them heading out to the school's gate since Sakura's detention was over.

"..."

"Please don't get mad at me anymore! You know I can't lie to Captain! Especially when he does that eye thing!" he shuddered at the memory.

Sakura sighed in defeat. She knows how well Naruto is saying the truth. It's really hard not to tell their captain what he wants to know. Not that she gets easily intimated by other people but the guy is like a walking lie-detector. He can easily tell you if you're sincere on something, plus, he's a no non-sense guy. He's one of the few people that has earned Sakura's respect and trust. Which is saying much because she rarely trusts the male population.

"Fine. I forgive you but you owe me." she said in a condescending tone.

"Anything you want!" Naruto exclaimed, brightening up. "I can treat you to Ichiraku's right now!"

"Hm. I'd like that but no. I wanna ask you something."

"Sure."

"The arrow that skewered Uchiha's things... does it have our _mark_?" Sakura was pertaining to the Ceryneian Hind, the enormous deer sacred to Artemis which has golden antlers and hooves made of brass or bronze. All their weaponry has that symbol creatively embossed on one part, be it the arrow or the bow. At first, she couldnt care much of whoever did that gag to Sasuke. But when she found out that their Captain is back, which is a strict imposer of rules; she's not sure if she can keep her shoulders shrug to this matter. Needless to say that she is the alleged suspect. Her position in the club might be in the line.

"Now that you mention it..." Naruto's voice fade away as he saw Sakura's angered expression.

"Naruto!" the girl bellowed at the blond, with noticeable irritation flashing in her eyes. How could he not have seen it. He was the one who made most of their equipment and- no matter how carefree and oblivious he is- he certainly was one to be keen on its' details besides their weapon's designer.

"Y-Yeah, I've seen it...I think." he replied reluctantly, he hastily elaborated his explanation at Sakura's audible growl. "I wasn't paying attention on the symbol that much since I was too focused on the material used on it. When I saw that it was clearly made out of silver I just assumed that it was yours since you're the the only one too fond to use it in our group. And besides, the way it hit Sasuke's bag dead center just shows how accurate the shooter was. You and Captain are the only people who could've managed that shot. And since sempai isn't here and it's pretty obvious that you hate Sasuke..." he trailed off with a shrug, leaving it to her to finish his statement on her own.

"This culprit could be a talented archer, though I doubt any of our members would do that since Uchiha just got here. But whoever it is, they don't like me or the jerk. I guess Shikamaru-sempai is right, someone's trying to set me up." Sakura's eyes narrowed in conclusion.

"So what will you do now?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Usually I wouldn't care, but since Captain won't tolerate this, I have to find this wrong-doer and bring him to justice. I won't let them get away with this." she glared at the ground, her mind calculating how she will start this investigation.

"You don't sound guilty at all." a deep voice sounded from behind them. Sakura didn't need to turn her head to know who it was. She would recognize that arrogant voice anywhere.

"That's because Sakura-chan didn't do it!" Naruto hollered obviously trusting the girl's conclusion earlier.

"Whatever. Where's the arrow?" Sakura stated with her arms crossed and crabby look, ignoring Naruto's comeback at the Uchiha.

"Why would I keep it?" he retorted while advancing in front of her, throwing the same look.

"This is useless." She wheezed. **_This guy needs to cooperate or I'll strangle him to death._ **"I have a proposition for you and you need to accept it before I lose the patience in talking to you and start beating you up." she said, pressing her lips together that looks almost like a smile (but more like a scorn). "You like to hear it or not?"

He scoffed. "So _you_ are asking for _my _help."

"I'm making an agreement. " she insisted and went straight to the subject. "Give me the arrow and I'll bring you the person who punctured your things." she sighed, thinking why is it so hard to talk with this guy.

"..."

**_Should I be_****_ doubling my offering to Hades?_ **she started to contemplate.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"Do you see it Sakura-chan?" Naruto queried curiously at the girl that is currently scanning the arrow intently. Apparently, the Uchiha managed to place it inside his locker. They made a wary look when Sasuke took it out from his compartment and he reasoned out that he just keep it for evidence, just in case.

"Its not mine. The mark on this one is obviously a pathetic attempt at copying mine." she said indifferently but also thinking who is the owner of the arrow. "This is exactly what Shikamaru-senpai thinks as troublesome. Hey you Uchiha, do you have any enemies?" she called out to him.

"I'm not a troublemaker, you know." He said in a manner that will insinuate that she is a ringmaker herself.

She rolled her eyes. "Never mind I asked. I don't see any reason why anyone would bother to get along with a prick like you."

"And I also don't see any reason why people should treat you lika a girl. Tell me are you a lesbian?" Sasuke mocked.

Naruto sweat dropped as he saw the pinkette's frozen reaction. _Uh oh, bad mistake...teme._

Sakura bristled in contempt and their surroundings suddenly became eerie; lightning jagged from the sky and in a matter of seconds, a thunder rolled. "_What _did you just _say_?" she seethed, slowly turning her full attention at the oblivious Uchiha. She may be boyish but there is no way in Hades would she allow a random rich kid to trample and disrespect her feminine side.

Sasuke only smirked arrogantly at the fuming girl. As much as he hated interacting with a girl, he can honestly admit that he was very much enjoying _this_ girl's attitude. _I wonder what will happen if I pushed enough buttons...or more?_

"Not only are you lesbian but I think you've also turned deaf." Sasuke continued, not really caring if she already was in front of him in less than a second.

_And my friends call me an idiot, _Naruto thought defeated as he wisely took a step back and gave way for the girl and upcoming onslaught...or maybe slaughter is the right word, _This guy's definitely asking for a death_ _sentence._

Sakura's hand automatically reached for the boy's collar to him towards her."Consider yourself a dead man Uchiha." she darkly answered, which -to her frustration- only widened up his smirk. She was about to launch her deadly punch on him,which could make big men cower in fear and run away from her, when a calm, stern voice got their attention.

"That's enough, Hunter..."

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><p><strong>blackheart01: *sigh* Those two really are something...I wonder how they'll end up together?...<strong>

**Duchess: Me too. LOL. But first things first. Who is this 'captain'? and most importantly, the 'culprit' that's trying to set up our Huntress? Let's all find out, ok?  
><strong>

**_Duchess has signed out._**

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><p>*extra notes*<p>

**_Themis_** was used as the title of the chapter. The Titaness of Law, Order and Justice. Probably because we are pertaining to the school's regulations and how they never look past to the wrong doers. Ironically, Sakura didn't get a fair justice in this chap right? So does Sasuke. LOL


	4. Peitharchia

_**Duchess has signed in.**_

_**blackheart01 has signed in.**_

**BH01: Hey, what up people?! Sorry for the late update, 'been too busy lately ****(-_-)'**

**Duchess: Yeah, me too. Pardon me. My family is currently going through a crisis, I'm still hoping everything would turn out well. But I miss being here! *.* It really amazes me how you guys find our story even though we didn't update that much, thank you for making me 'YEY!' whenever I check our emails. :3 (**_hooray! 940+ views for this story! *_confetti*)****

**Sakura : These two mortals doesn't own Naruto. If they did, it will be an another deluge. **

**Duchess : Why are you so mean Sakura-chan? *innocent eyes***

**Sakura : Well duh, you made me to be. *rolls eyes* **

**BH01 : But we're girls. I thought we made you cold to guys? Anyways, here's the additional chapter. *whispering to Duchess as to why Sakura suddenly appeared in this chap***

****Sakura : Whatever! anyways, read this so-called story of theirs. Tch. *to herself* And don't be afraid to comment how they suck. *sinister laugh*****

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**-o-o-**Peitharchia**: Spirit of Obedience-o-o-**

_Recap:_

_Sakura's hand automatically reached for the boy's collar to him towards her."Consider yourself a dead man Uchiha." she darkly answered, which -to her frustration- only widened up his smirk. She was about to launch her deadly punch on him,which could make big men cower in fear and run away from her, when a calm, stern voice got their attention._

_"That's enough, Hunter..."_

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

Sasuke saw Sakura's eyes widen unconsciously before she could look down to hide her reaction from him. When he turned to his side he saw Naruto's expression as well. To say that Naruto was surprised was an understatement. His eyes almost bulged out of its sockets and his jaw hanging enough to catch flies as he stared at the person who just arrived. Sasuke was about to ask a sensible question as to why they were acting weirdly all of a sudden, but the words that came out from his mouth came out differently.

"Shouldn't it be _Huntress_?"

Sakura's eye twitch involuntarily in annoyance. "_Shut up, Uchiha._" she hissed under her breath, her eyes narrowing almost into slits.

Naruto chose that moment to interrupt. He gulped slowly and chuckled nervously before talking. "H-Hi there C-Captain! How was your trip? Did you bring something for the team? I hope you have ramen-" he babbled on but he was cut-off by the look of the said guy.

Out of curiosity, Sasuke turned his head enough to see the newcomer. The guy looked a bit older than the three of them, probably a year or two. He had long brown hair that reaches his back and was tied at the bottom part. He has a straight nose and thin lips that seem to be set in a stern line for ages. But what made his looks unique was his pair of lavender eyes that was almost pale enough to be considered white. Sasuke's first thought was that the young man was blind, but he dismissed that thought as quickly as it entered his mind when the said guy looked at him. There were only few people that could intimidate Sasuke and he was thinking that this guy may be part of that _very _short list. Of course, he didn't let it show on his face despite the fact that the guy's stare was creeping him out. It's like what he heard Naruto said earlier. It's hard to lie when those eyes are on you. It was like it could see through people's real intentions or whatever. Although, he seemed somewhat familiar to him, like he's seen him from somewhere before.

With a sigh, the guy spoke in that calm voice again. "I'm fine Naruto, stop giving me that look," the guy was pertaining to the hurt, sad puppy eyes, Naruto was casting on his Captain's glare, "I did bring something for the team but I'll give it to you guys tomorrow. And _no,_ it's _not_ ramen." the guy clarified, making Naruto's grin turn into a pout.

"How could it not be ramen? It's delicious and awesome and nutritious..." Naruto mumbled under his breath forgetting the tension surrounding them until their Captain spoke again.

"Sakura, I think it's better if you let go of Uchiha-san now." he said, in what Sasuke could describe as an order. He didn't even notice that the guy knew his name.

The onyx-eyed boy would not have believe it himself if he didn't witness it. The first encounter that he had with Sakura was enough to give him a clue that she was a man-hater. But surprisingly, the girl obliged the guy's instruction and let go of him. Even if she did it rather unceremoniously, the pinkette actually followed someone's order from a _male_ of all people.

Sakura on the other hand, noticed that her Captain knows the Uchiha. "You know this low-life senpai?" she pointed casually at the guy.

"What did I tell you about giving out names to people?"

"I'm not naming him. I'm describing him." she answered nonchalantly.

"Well that low-life you're pertaining to, happens to be in a prominent clan known not only in Japan but also in some parts of the world." her senpai explained.

She gave her Captain a so-what-if-he-is look. **_For his despicable manner, I believe. _**She snapped mentally, looking undemonstrative on the Uchiha- who on the other hand is currently wearing the same look of indifference. Probably for calling him the 'low-level' _again..._ or he just normally have that face. "Whatever." she mumbled.

_"Right..." _Naruto decided to butt in again. "Now that we know that, how did you meet him again Captain?" he asked while pointing his thumb at the raven-haired boy.

The Captain decided not to answer the question then turned to the Sasuke. "Sorry for being rude, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Hyuuga Neji, the _Headhunter._"

Sasuke simply frowned at this. "And so?" His voice sounded uncaring and almost finding it weird that the guy is telling him this information. It's not like he knows the guy or something. Or does he?

"Hey! Show some respect teme! He's older than you and he's our senpai!" Naruto hollered in his loud voice.

Neji seemed to be unaffected at Sasuke's question, his lips slightly curving up into a smirk. "I didn't know an Uchiha could be so forgetful. Especially to their future business partner."

_Business partner?, _Sasuke thought inwardly, trying with all his might to remember where he'd seen this Hyuuga guy. Wait, did he say _Hyuuga_? "You're Neji Hyuuga, nephew of Hiashi Hyuuga of Hyuuga Enterpise."

"Yes. I am." Neji replied in confirmation. "'Didn't know it would take too long for you to recognize me."

"I actually don't recognize you that much." Sasuke muttered, honestly. "I only remembered your last name. But you look familiar. Have we actually met before?"

Neji made a noise that almost sounded like a chuckle, surprising both Sakura and Naruto. Their captain rarely _chuckle_ or laugh for that matter. "I've seen you a lot of times during social gatherings. But I only caught glimpses since your always... _surrounded."_ Neji said the last word meaningfully, which Sasuke easily caught on. He'd barely see anyone when he's in a party with all those annoying girls- obviously the daughters of those social climbing and unimportant businessmen who practically dreamed of becoming a part of the Uchiha clan- blocking his sight. He always ended up, sitting by the table waiting for something to happen to distract those females before making his escape. After that, he'll surprise his parents and his brother that he was already at home.

Sasuke's scowl deepened at the memory. "Don't remind me."

"Oh, but it's hard to forget watching you take off. I've never known anyone who could sneak or run that fast, without others noticing you." Neji smirked again, amused. "You should teach me sometime" he joked, which was another surprise for his team members. Neji was always serious and barely even jokes since he always takes things _seriously_. Most of all, they were not aware that their Captain had actually known the existence of his own fan girls, since he blatantly ignores them the whole time.

Sasuke decided that even though this guy was too perceptive, he knew somehow they would get along. He gave out a smirk of his own. "Gladly. Nice meeting you, Hyuuga-_senpai._" he held out his hand towards the brunette.

"Same to you, Uchiha Sasuke-san." Neji took Sasuke's hand and shook it. "Welcome to Konoha High. I hope you enjoy it here."

"I'm kind of partial on that matter." the raven-haired boy said eyeing the pinkette who was still boring holes on his head.

"I do apologize for Sakura's behavior, you'll get use to it in time since I'm guessing you two are on the same class. Am I right?" he asked no one in particular but both Naruto and Sasuke nodded their heads simultaneously.

"Don't apologize senpai. I don't intend to do that myself, he's not worthy of it." Sakura scowled, her hands still itching to strangle the guy who was giving her an amused look. Why is he even amused when he should be running for his life and crying pathetically like all the other weaklings, some people liked calling _men, _after she threatened to send him to Hades?

_"Sakura."_ Neji said warningly.

Sakura merely raised an eyebrow, "School's over senpai. According to the deal, you're no longer entitled to give me an order that I would undoubtedly follow. Although, apologizing to a non-member of the group is not included on the deal. Plus, this matter does not concern the Hunters."

"She's technically right Captain." Naruto concluded, scratching the back of his head.

Neji simply sighed in defeat. "I rest my case."

Sakura smirked smugly. "Good. I'll be going home then. See you tomorrow, Captain." she waved once and walked away.

"Wait for me Sakura-chan!" Naruto, who lives near her house and usually accompanies the girl home, ran after the pinkette, who didn't bother to wait for the blonde, or even glance back at them.

* * *

><p><strong><em>The next day...<em>  
><strong>

"Why here?" Sakura demanded raising an eyebrow, while quickly scanning the whole area which looks like a summer vacation cabin where they have their meetings. But it was just one of the places in their training grounds where they stay for group meetings. On the outside it would look like a simple cabin that were made of logs and other sort of lumber, yet when you get inside, it was designed a bit differently. It was cozy-looking with a fireplace by the end of the room from across the door, there was a large round mahogany table in the middle with about twelve chairs made of cherry wood surrounding it. On the side there was a huge red sofa bed near the fireplace with a side-table on its left side, made for those who simply wants to take a break. By the left side of the wall, there was a dart board and an announcement board next to it- with notes and some reminders pinned to it- and by the right side, there was a drawing table and on top of it, a few sketches of bows and arrows pinned to a large cork board.

As usual, they don't enter this room without the whole members - well at least, the 5 elite members : _Silver Aimers._ But this time could be different.**  
><strong>

"We go here every time we talk about something, have you forgotten that?" Naruto stated.

"Yeah, right." she wheezed loudly and rolled her eyes. "I'm completely aware of that Naruto. That's not what I'm asking. This place is assigned _only_ to the club members, and I don't remember that _bozo_ ▬ " pointing to Sasuke. "...being in our team or this club for that matter."

"Don't think that I like it too, Weirdo." he retorted and earned dagger looks from her, still wondering why he even went here after receiving an invitation from Neji to come over to their club room, when he could simply refuse it in the first place.

"Instead of minding that, why don't we go ahead and discuss what you have done? " asked the Team Captain, and all turned quiet, their gazes shifting from Sakura and Neji.

"Are you going to ask the same question as the Principal's?" she said bitterly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Hey Captain, we're still not completed!" Naruto interrupted. "Sai's not here..." his voice trailed off as he saw their reaction from his statement. "...yet."

Shikamaru sighed. "You didn't inform him, did you?"

"Of course I did!" Naruto said defensively.

"As if you didn't know him. He has his reason for his acts." Sakura warding off.

"Yeah, but I really did told him to come!"

"Drop it, already." Neji calmly stated, shutting everyone up. "Sai had to run some errands, he already informed me this morning."

"Oh, okay." Naruto grinned, sweatdropping "You can continue."

Sakura wore a grim expression as she started. "Fine. First, he lost his bag. Second, he found it sticking up on the school building's clock. When I got back to class, he confronted me and started accusing me for doing it. Lastly, the teacher found us and sent us to the principal's office."

"Wait, why did he blame you for that bag thing?" Kiba asked raising a hand in question.

"It was my fault." Naruto nervously chuckled. "I was the one who checked the arrow, and I mistook it for Sakura-chan's."

"Someone was trying to blackmail her." Shikamaru explained nonchalantly, a bored expression plastered on his face as usual.

"By whom?"

"If I know, I wouldn't have this problem." Sakura remarked and made an abrupt look at Sasuke. "What if..." she said, holding the attention of everyone including Neji's piercing eyes. _It can't be... _she thought, dismissing the idea that suddenly came on her mind. _That's silly. _"Nevermind."

"We had an agreement that she'll find the culprit." Sasuke stated out of the blue, and others look at him skeptically. Sakura is one of the people hard to talk with especially when it concerns helping or cooperating with a guy. Even though it's her problem too, Sakura liked to do things on her own.

Before they could say something, Sakura immediately explained, "It was for myself, okay? I can't stand being accused for something I didn't do." her hands rolled into a fist after her head dropped down, strands of hair beclouding her face. "I felt I'm being used and I hate it." Lightning appeared at the sky and thunder rolled, gone as quickly as it came.**  
><strong>

The room suddenly became gloomy, instead of being scary because of her anger. For some reason, they felt pain or hurt on what she said. Find it weird and odd but they were tongue-tied as they felt the weight of her words or is there? Respect kept them from digging on what she could have been meant and leave it at just that.

"A-Anyways... Know what? The arrow really looked like Sakura-chan's. It was her idea to check if it has a mark on it." Naruto said matter-of-factly, breaking the silence.

"You sure you locked your workshop?" It was Shino, the one wearing turtleneck that's covering half of his face asked, sitting on one end of the table. He is referring to the place where they make and store their equipment: Quivers, bows, arrows, etc. for their training and practice.

"You're seriously thinking that someone might snatch it from there and bothered copying Sakura's arrows just for this kind of prank?" He said and Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at the sight of his unwavering face, confident smile and crossed arms. Like it was the surest thing to say.

"I'm just stating a possibility." commented Shino plainly.

"I don't think so." Kiba backing up Naruto, while caressing his pet dog, Akamaru, resting on his lap. "No one except us can go through there, and he changes his passwords to his 'place' every once in a while." others nodded in agreement.

"He's right." The Captain settled. "I think its planned way ahead of time, and its just a coincidence that Sasuke here was involved... or are you suggesting that someone from the team helped Sakura?" and all their faces say 'NO!'. It will mean an unimaginable punishment if ever they did something like that. Which, they can't afford. Sakura, on the other hand is still - unexpectedly- silent.

"Hey guys, what did I miss?" As if on cue, a random guy wearing their school's uniform asked as he entered the room with a sweet smile. He's just about tall, like most of the guys in the room; but his skin was so pale that you would have thought he's anemic. Maybe he is. The guy was actually good-looking. He had charcoal black eyes, paired with a short dark hair, straight nose and lips that seemed to be set to always smile. Sasuke strangely felt that he somewhat resembles the guy, save for the complexion and the expression plastered on his face.

He approached the only girl in the room and ruffled her hair, which made her look up. It looks like her mind is absent, and didn't notice his arrival. "Hi, Lil' Artemis..." then he sat to an empty chair next to her after he received a weak smile from her, which earned a quirk of a single eyebrow from the newcomer.

"Oi, Sai! Where have you been?" It was Naruto who queried, and the attention was shifted to him.

_Sai? Hmmm...Didn't I hear that name before?_ Sasuke asked mentally, who just got intrigued with the newcomer and that Sakura isn't bothered that the guy _touched_ her. A guy, can you believe it? He knows she's friends with Naruto and the other team members but he never see them make 'physical' contact to her unless it was necessary. This guy must have gain her trust for whatever reason. His memory came to light as he noticed that Sai is carrying a relatively large sketch pad. _The one designing equipments. _He thought._  
><em>

"Tsunade-sama wanted to discuss the upcoming event for the next month and she was just asking for some ideas about the theme of the program." Sai explained casually, glancing at his side, and finally noticing Sakura's grim expression. He blinked, tilting his head to the side, and turned to the others. "Hey, did someone insulted the 12 Olympian Gods again or is it that time of the month?" he asked the rest of his co-members, who even though used to Sai's vulgar comments, feared for the artist's life since it seemed that the girl in mention wasn't in the mood.

To their utter surprise, the pinkette giggled at the off-handed question of her seatmate. She playfully punched the guy's arm and he didn't even flinch. With a short, "Shut up, _Apollo._" Sakura stood up, a determined look on her face set, before speaking.

"Alright, if anyone did this prank, raise your hand. I'll give him my forgiveness if he admitted his fault and confess to the principal, if not then I'll make sure that the rest of your year would be spent in Tartarus together with Kronos." she said in a fierce tone that made every guy save for Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji, to cringed and gulped nervously at her unnerving announcement. By that time, every member knew what she meant but only one occupant, seemed clueless.

"What the hell is up with you? Are you threatening them or are you giving them a Literature lesson?" a totally puzzled Uchiha, couldn't help asking. Sakura did her best to leave his question unanswered as she stared at her teammates one by one, unfazed. After a minute of tense silence and no hand being raised, Sakura let out a breath of relief before grinning.

"Okay, good. At least we know that I won't kill anyone today!" she cheerfully said.

"I think you mean that, it's a good thing that no one is a traitor in our group." Shikamaru tried to correct her.

"Oh, yeah, that too." Sakura nodded, as if she just remembered.

"Sakura-chan, why do you always have to be so violent?" Naruto sweat dropped at her reply, so did some of the members.

"Alright then, I guess we can cross off team members on the suspect list. Who guys do you think will be-"

Sasuke spoke cutting-off Sakura's words. "Wait a second."

"What now?" Sakura unwillingly grumbled, displeased that he so rudely interrupted on her litany.

"You're just simply letting them off without an investigation just because no one raised their hand after that so-called threat?" Sasuke asked almost sounding incredibly perplexed. _Just what in the world is wrong with this girl?_

"I trust them. And every one of them knows how serious I am when I give my word." Sakura said, every word stated heavy with emotion.

"Yeah. All of us knows Sakura-chan! And we won't do anything that would get her in trouble..." Naruto said with conviction. "Well, unless it's an accident and we really didn't mean it." he added, grinning sheepishly when Sakura raised an eyebrow at him as if stating that they already did.

"Anyway, moving forward, that's not the only reason why we're having this meeting." Neji stated, which caught everyone's interest as they all gazed upon their Captain, including the young Uchiha. "It's about one of our rules." he said plaintive, and their interest was suddenly replaced with seriousness and exchanging meaningful looks among the members. And for the second time, Sasuke was astounded. He didn't risk asking a question as to what the hell is happening, but instead he examined the Hunters' reactions before Neji continued. "Being sent to detention or merely causing trouble - "

"I'm sorry senpai, but I don't think we should be jumping into conclusions yet - until Sakura is proven guilty." Kiba gambled interrupting the Headhunter, supporting the girl in the room.

"She still committed an act of violence. I'm afraid this matter should not be overlooked." asserted Shikamaru.

And before something start out of this, Neji raised a dismissive hand which is enough for them to fall silent. "I propose that we make a vote as to what kind of punishment we should set on our violator." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, except Sakura and Sasuke. "Sakura, could you please leave the room for a moment and wait outside with Uchiha-san?"

"Of course senpai." Sakura nodded stiffly, beckoning the Uchiha to come with her, with a quiet "Come on, Uchiha."

Sasuke frowned lightly, but followed the pinkette nonetheless.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"What are they doing inside?" Sasuke broke the silence, after five minutes of waiting outside by the porch. Both him and the girl were leaning by the railings waiting for the meeting to be over.

"How should I know?" she asked back lazily.

Sasuke sighed, glancing at the girl, almost seven feet away from him. She was staring into space, her eyes half-lidded, pink strands of hair caught up with the gentle breeze and chest heaving slowly as if savoring the air around them. He contemplated on how she looked pretty when she's relaxed and not pissed. But of course, he would never voice out a compliment to a girl, specially to someone who practically would love to punch the living daylights out of him.

"Take a picture. It would last." her nonchalant voice brought him back to reality.

He looked away, slightly embarrassed at being caught ogling at the pinkette. "Hn."

"I wonder why Captain invited you over. He never did this before." Sakura mumbled almost to herself. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Are you an archer?"

"No." was his automatic reply. He did make a small exhibition during a business event, but only because it was requested by his mother. He and his brother used to play archery when he was little. He did enjoy the sport but he didn't take it seriously so he doesn't consider himself an archer. His brother did join an archery club back in high school but Sasuke wasn't inclined on asking about this.

"Okay, just making sure." she muttered, unintentionally looking back at the door behind them only to witness its opening; revealing the Captain himself. She cleared her throat before saying, "Senpai..." which made Sasuke turn around too to face him.

"We have made our decision." Neji started saying, not removing his intense look at Sakura's own eyes. His next statement set her face to crumple, frown in confusion and threw a wary look at the Uchiha. Which, was half-ignored.

"What do you mean that the three of us need to talk, Captain? What's he got to do with this?" trying her best to keep the volume of her voice as low as possible, as she still needs to respect him. She just don't understand why he have to hear her verdict, when its his fault anyway why she's being adjudicated for something... _Ugh, there's must be a good reason for this._ she growled inwardly.

Still not saying a word, despite of Sakura's clear protests towards him; Sasuke just held himself back with his usual icy composure. At least, until he heard the Captain's explanation. He wants him to stay, so let it be.

"Listen, the principal wanted you to leave the club. So I asked her if we can lighten your punishment. She decided to suspend you, that you're banned to our training grounds."

"What?!" It was all she could say. "Why are we doing votes then, if this has all been settled?"

"Wait," Sasuke decided to interrupt. "You're talking as if you knew this would happen."

"Kind of. I knew her teammates would not agree so I disapproved beforehand with Tsunade-sama yesterday." He explained but they both know there's still something. Its just by the way he looks, like he is just waiting if they are ready to hear his next announcement. "The principal wanted a 4-month suspension," he made a look when Sakura gasp and was about to say something but controlled herself after the said look was casted on her. "But she agreed to my recommendation."

"And what is it?" She has to know. If this is the only way to lessen that days or months of suspension, she has to know.

"And more importantly, why am I involved in this?" Sasuke asked his own question, quite annoyed that no one had bothered to explain why he was there in the first place.

Neji was silent for a minute, which built a choking tension between them. What he said next, made it worse.

"You Haruno Sakura will be training Uchiha Sasuke as a substitute member of the Silver Hunters."

* * *

><p><em><strong>BH01: Oh my, my, my...I wonder why they'd consider that a punishment for Sakura-chan? Hmm... and what would be their reactions? =<strong>_**3**

**Duchess : The kind that you don't wanna miss, right? heehee.. Anyways, til the next chap, guys! ^_^ Thanks for your support ! =p**

**Sakura : You're punishing me, right? *glares at the two***

**_BH01: O-Oh yeah, and by the way, Let's greet Duchie a Happy Birthday on the 30th ^_^_  
><strong>

**_Love you, girl! Otanjoubi Omedetou! ;P_**

* * *

><p>*extra notes*<p>

We used a spirit for the Chapter title instead of a god or goddess here. So, hope that doesn't bother anyone (at least not in a major way). Next Chapter, we could give out clues as to which character or what event to look out for that will be in here, depends on you. Just let us know. :))


	5. Styx

**Duchess has signed in.**

**blackheart01 has signed in.**

**blackheart01: Hey guys long time no see, neh?**

**Duchess : Yeah, since when is the last time we updated? Ugh, curse office works..**

****blackheart01: I know right... -_-' I miss being a student...anyways, we won't keep you waiting so here goes Chapter 5!****

_Disclaimer Applied._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

**-o-o- Styx : Goddess of the River of Oaths -o-o-**

**...**

"I- WHAT?!"

"..."

Neji stayed silent again, waiting for the expected barrage of questions from the two of them. He knew this would happen but he had no other choice. It was the only way to keep one of their best member now that the competition is almost near. Plus he'd be able to help out the young Uchiha out of trouble. It's like hitting two birds with one stone. Shikamaru even approved of his decision, making him more sure that it wasn't a bad idea after all.

"Senpai, you're kidding right?" she knew asking this question is useless and she was already aware of the answer. The pearl-eyed young man rarely kids around.

Neji merely shook his head slightly in answer.

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm not even interested in joining a club in this school." Sasuke said, scowling.

"You do realize, Uchiha-san, that you were also involved in this mess. Both of you must take responsibility of what you did. Sakura, you do remember our deal that you're not allowed to get in trouble with the principal because you know it might cause you suspension like before." Sakura groaned at this. "Uchiha-san, in this school, we treat every students equally and we don't tolerate violence, you're not the only person here who has a family that's got a high influence. You were also supposed to have a suspension like Sakura. I only wanted to help you as well."

"How is training me to shoot arrows, be considered helping me?" Sasuke sneered.

"Do not insult archery, you jerk." Sakura snapped irritably, while Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Neji ignored the small banter and explained his suggestion. "Getting you in a club would be like a way to make you an active participant of the school since you're only new here and it's gonna be some sort of detention as well. Also it might help Sakura to lengthen her patience and it would keep her busy while she's on probation from club activities."

"I will be on probation from the club while training him?!" Sakura pointed rudely in Sasuke's direction.

"I have no interest whatsoever in participating on anything in this school." Sasuke commented, his scowl getting deeper.

"It's not a request Uciha-san. It's either that or the suspension." Both Sasuke and Sakura went quiet. "I'll give you two until tomorrow. Just tell me your decision after that. You're free to go." Neji stated, "No training for today Sakura." he added before turning his back on them.

The two of them stared at Neji's retreating back for a few minutes, then they turned to give each other deadly glares. No word was spoken but both their thoughts can be easily translated into three words:** _It's your fault!_**

Without anything said, they turned away from each other and marched into opposite directions, with Sasuke going back to the school building while Sakura went towards their locker rooms to get her things.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"My, my. It seems that my twin's in a bad mood."

Sakura didn't need to look up to know who it was. She kept her murderous glare focused on the spot on the ground in front of her as if willing it to set on fire or at least burn a hole in it. She was seated by a cherry blossom tree near a lake which was located a little further from the school's forest. It was her favorite and private place in the school. This is where she usually goes when she's in a totally bad mood to calm herself or ease herself during stressful days. And today was a good example of that.

"What are you doing here Sai? Shouldn't you be home by now?" she asked still not bothering to look up at the newcomer. She heard a quiet rustle and guessed that the said guy sat on the ground like her. She liked this part of the boy. He knew how she didn't like physical contact when she's not in the mood for fooling around.

"I should be asking you the same thing." he countered. Sakura knew he was wearing that familiar smile by now.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked instead.

"Well, after the meeting, I concluded that you'll be pissed and would need to cool off. Also, Naruto kept on whining that you didn't wait for him to go home." he answered. There was a shuffling sound from his end, and she glanced to see him getting something from his bag.

"Baka." she muttered under her breath. Sai knew she was referring to their blonde, loud-mouthed friend so he ignored it.

"Well, you know the guy's just worried about you. I know you won't stay mad at him for long." he directed his smile at her when he noticed she was finally looking.

She scoffed at him. "The confrontation might not have happened if he was careful." she pouted. "But I don't blame him that much. It's still that Uchiha's fault that I'm in this mess." she growled when she mentioned his name, just thinking about that raven-haired jerk infuriates her.

"Careful, you might crack a hole on the ground all the way to Hades." Sai jested.

"That would be delightful. That way, I could simply push the Uchiha down there and make him spend time at the Fields of Punishment." she replied dryly, though her lips quirked slightly at the thought.

She heard the pale boy chuckle. She raised a curious eyebrow when she saw him playing with his orange color pencil. He tapped it lightly on the sketchbook that laid on top of his lap, while he gazed at something in front of him. She tilted her head to the side and decided to ask him.

"What's the matter?"

As if waking up from a trance, Sai glanced back at her and grinned childishly. "Nothing. It's just... the sunset." he directed his attention in front of him once again. "I've never seen it from this view before. It looks beautiful."

Sakura went to check herself. True enough the sight was pretty. Shades of red, orange and yellow mixed together in the sky and underneath it was a dark shade of violet and navy blue, indicating that the day is almost ending. "Apollo's done, it's Artemis' turn now." she murmured under her breath as she watched the early moon slowly rise up on the horizon.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"So, what are you planning to do now?" Sai asked as they walked on the street towards their way home. After their little chat by the lakeside, Sakura felt a little better. They decided to go home by then, after going to a nearby fast food chain to get some burger, fries and sodas for take-out.

"Hmf?" Sakura glanced at him questioningly, while chewing on some fries.

Sai sweatdropped. "I meant about your punishment. Have you already decided?"

Sakura gulped down her fries and frowned as she took a sip from her drink. "I'm not sure yet. I still want to stay with the team, but I'm not sure if I can bear the presence of that guy for at least a minute. What more if I spend a day with him? I could end up strangling him to death or something."

The boy chuckled lightly. "I've never seen you so affected by a boy before. Even before I met you, no one has ever made you this pissed off."

"I don't know. There's something different about him. Hmm, maybe the Fates are giving me a challenge." she shrugged and continued attacking her fries once again.

"Well then, I guess you've made your decision." Sai stated, nodding his head as if he understood what she said. He stopped walking and faced Sakura. He gestured his hand to his side, as if giving way for her to pass. Sakura realized they already reached her house.

Sakura raised an eyebrow and smiled a bit when she turned to her companion. "I guess you're right."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Artemis." Sai said in a knowing tone, with that usual smile of his.

"Of course you will, Apollo." Sakura grinned, playing along.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"Tadaima." Sasuke said under his breath after entering the Uchiha household, not expecting a reply. He just had a habit of doing that since childhood. The maid who opened the door for him bowed her head low in greeting and took his school bag from him to take it to his bedroom. Sasuke just nodded his head at her in dismissal.

"Okaeri Nasai." a male voice said back, coming from the living room. From there a young man in his early twenties came out. He wore a simple white, long-sleeved shirt- with the top three buttons undone- and black slacks. On his feet were a pair of expensive looking leather shoes. The guy looked liked an older version of Sasuke. The only difference would be is his long, pony-tailed hair and his calm, stoic expression.

"Nii-san?" Sasuke blinked in utter surprise, expecting the guy in front of him to be a part of his imagination.

"How are you little brother? Long time no see." Itachi grinned at him, ruffling the younger Uchiha's hair when he was finally close to him.

Sasuke scowled a bit, and shoved his older brother's hand away from his already messy hair. Itachi's habit of doing that always annoyed him. "Why are you here? I thought you're training for your position at the company with Dad in the US?"

"We've flown all the way from the other side of the globe within a short time because we missed you and that's the kind of greeting you're gonna give me? I'm hurt." Itachi replied dramatically, not sounding hurt at all.

Sasuke's frown deepened. "_We_?"

Just as he was about to ask Itachi who he meant, he was suddenly tackled into a suffocating hug by a blur of red and black.

"SASU-CHAAAAN! I've missed you so much! How's my baby doing?" a woman's voice squealed as she squeezed the life out of the poor boy in her arms.

"K-Kaa-san...can't b-breathe!" Sasuke gasped for air.

"Mikoto." another male's voice sighed, "Let the boy go."

"But Fugaku-kun, I haven't seen him for a long time!" Mikoto whined and pouted at the man in front of her. The man, who's in his late thirties, looked stern and serious but his eyes always softened a little at the sight of his wife. The head of the Uchiha household, Fugaku Uchiha, sighed again in defeat and turned to Itachi for help to reign the only woman in their family of four.

"He won't _live_ for a long time if you keep hugging him, Mother." Itachi chuckled, as he sat down tiredly on the couch.

The female Uchiha gave up and pulled away from her youngest son, but not after pecking his cheek quickly, before pulling away and sprinting towards her husband. Mikoto Uchiha looked so young despite her age. She wore a simple red dress, paired up with red high heels and yet she still looked elegant. Most people would comment that her sons got their good-looks and wit from her.

"Mother!" Sasuke complained half-heartedly, as he wiped the smudged lipstick his mother left on his cheek. The woman stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

Itachi then spoke, smirking at his otouto's demise "Since the reunion's over, who's hungry?"

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"How come you guys are here again?" Sasuke asked casually to his family, over dinner.

Most people would think that the Uchiha family would be too formal even at the confines of their own home because of their social status, but it would be the opposite. If Sasuke would describe his family in one word, it would be: ordinary. With a strict father, a caring, thoughtful- although a bit childish- mother, and sometimes cool, sometimes annoying big brother. They were actually a normal -yet incredibly rich- family, who also have their own perks and imperfections.

Itachi decided to answer him seriously this time. "Father and I took a vacation, and so did Mother. After all those hectic schedules, deadlines and what-nots, we decided to take a break for a while after finishing up the important stuffs that we needed to do."

"Who's running the company then?" Sasuke questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Your Uncle Madara said he can do it, though he said the longest he could do would be within a month, unless a problem arises, then we'll have to go back there, vacation or not." Fugaku answered.

"I thought he's busy in Europe?" Sasuke asked. His Uncle Madara was a talented and intelligent guy, but juggling his time running two companies would be difficult. The Uchiha clans' corporation is too big for one man to handle. That's the reason why after graduating, Itachi was sent overseas to train so he could help their Father handle the business, after Fugaku made him aware that he's not forcing his eldest son to do it and that it should be his choice.

"Yeah, he's letting his VP do the job there. I can always contact him via internet. Besides, we made a bet and he lost. He owes me a favor." Fugaku shrugged nonchalantly.

Sasuke sweat dropped. _Figures_, he thought.

"Well, enough about us Sasu-chan! How about you? What have you been doing lately besides school? Have you finally met a someone who's girlfriend material?" Mikoto babbled on eagerly.

"School's okay I guess. And no, I don't have a girlfriend." he replied dryly, ignoring the disturbing image of a green-eyed, pink-haired troublemaker glaring at him, that flashed inside his head, when his mother mentioned the word 'girlfriend'. He frowned unconsciously at that, which easily caught his brother's attention.

"Are you sure nothing exciting happened?" Itachi asked, tilting his head to the side, his eyes observing Sasuke's closely.

Sasuke glared at him, before crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I almost got suspended." he mumbled.

Three sets of eyes stared at him in disbelief, as if he'd grown another head.

Itachi shook his head as if making sure he'd heard right. "Suspended? _YOU?!_"

"Sasu-chan, you actually got into trouble? How?" Mikoto asked, while Fugaku stared at his son curiously. He knew the youngest member of their family hated unwanted attention so he found it unusual that his son would cause trouble that would earn him said attention.

Mikoto's question made Sasuke suddenly interested on the silverware at the side of his plate. _Wow, I never noticed how shiny this spoon is..._

"Sasu-chan?" His mother called out, urging him to give his answer.

_"Ihadafightwithagirl"_ he muttered, uncomprehendingly.

"What was that?" Itachi asked as he leaned closer to Sasuke's side of the table.

"I had a fight with a girl." he repeated more clearly this time, trying not to flush in embarrassment.

All three other occupants of the room blinked at him for minute and looked at him as if a third head popped out off him and started talking to them.

"You fought with a girl?!"

"Was she pretty?"

"Have you got no respect for a woman?!"

"What kind of fight are we talking about here?"

"Are you dating her?"

"Have we not taught you good manners?!"

"Was she hot?"

"Are we going to meet her soon?"

"How can you do that?!"

"Did her fighting spirit turn you on?"

"_ITACHI!_" Sasuke, Mikoto and Fugaku yelled at the same time. Sasuke, almost losing his inner battle at fighting of the blush that was starting to color his face at their questions.

"Sorry, just curious." Itachi held out his palms up, as if surrendering.

"Shut up." Sasuke glared at him, despite his red face.

"How did you ended up fighting with a girl that almost got you suspended?" Itachi inquired innocently, but the mischievous tone was obvious.

Sasuke had no choice but to explain what happened since his parents were also waiting for his response. He started the story from when he bumped into Sakura, the bag incident, the confrontation in the classroom, their meeting with the principal, meeting Neji -to his father's surprise, and up until the meeting with the Silver Hunters. He did not leave any details out since he didn't feel the need to hide anything from them. The three listened to him with piqued interest, like as if they were kids listening to bedtime stories. And yes, that includes Fugaku. His family is weird that way.

When he finished, he waited for their reactions. They all contemplated on his story, absorbing the information, which was kind of amusing to him. That was until Mikoto, nodded her head in apprehension, raised her eyebrow and gave him a sly smile.

"So she did turn you on."

_Darn it..._

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

Morning came quickly, the sun was up, the birds are chirping, the flowers blooming and it was such a nice day. Only that's not the case for two people who met up coincidentally in front of the Konoha High's school gate. A pair of obsidian orbs stared intensely at his target in front of him, who owns a pair of jade orbs, it's owner sizing him up on her own way. It was pretty early in the morning so only a few people walked by and students are probably still at home preparing for school. The reason they were there at that time is actually the same. Both of them read the other's mind as they greeted each other in the most controlled voice they could muster.

"Haruno."

"Uchiha."

The two of them talked at the same time, making them narrow their eyes at the other.

"Have you made your decision?" Sakura started.

"Have you?" Sasuke asked back, which had Sakura glower at him.

"I asked you first, you-" before she could further speak more, she restrained herself, sighed and answered, "...yes"

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow in surprise. She didn't yell at him this time so he felt obliged to reply without the sarcasm included. "I have as well."

"I see. So, you'll be going to Neji-senpai's room then?" she asked, cautiously picking up her words so the Uchiha wouldn't make any clever remarks anymore.

Sasuke seemed to have understood what she was trying to do, so he tried to act civilized and gave her a direct answer. "I was planning on doing that later. I actually don't know where he is." he admitted.

Sakura nodded her head once and glanced at the forest side of the school. "Would you like to-" she cut herself of when she heard loud rustles from the nearby bushes, she raised an eyebrow, slightly puzzled. She would have ignored it but she couldn't deny her sharp hearing ability detecting girlish voices whispering from the said bush. _What the-_

"Haruno?" Sasuke called her out. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, um...nothing I just thought I heard someone." Sakura shook her head, trying to clear the feeling that they were being watched, or more precisely like someone's glaring at her. Of course, she's very familiar with this feeling since it happens a lot before she even joined the club.

"Anyway, you were saying?" Sasuke prompted her continue what she was going to say to her earlier.

"Right, I'll be going to where Neji-senpai probably is. I'm guessing he's already in there since he comes to school early. Since you've already decided, we can just go together there." she offered, she said glancing around the area, before turning her eyes on him again.

"I see. Alright, lead the way then." Sasuke gestured a hand towards their path. As Sakura was about to take her first step, a sudden noise disturbed the peaceful silence of the morning. A very distinctive sound that could only come from a combination of girly squeals and pairs of feet stampeding on the ground. Sasuke and Sakura's eyes grew with in surprise at the sudden waved of fan girls coming their way, shouting a very loud: _"SASUKE-KUUUUUN!"_ Sakura was the first one to recover, while Sasuke stood frozen in place. The pinkette felt tempted to just leave him to his doom- after all they aren't actually friends and they haven't made a truce yet- but she knew she'll get into more trouble with her Captain if he learned that she didn't do anything to save her possible future co-member. Sighing in defeat, Sakura yanked the boy's arm and started running towards the direction of the forest grounds of the school, dragging the Uchiha with her.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

Sakura tried to catch her breath as she ran. If she only knew that she'll be having her morning exercise this way, she could have at least done some warm up first, now her legs are starting to ache from all those running.

"Wait, I think we lost them." someone panted from behind her.

She turned around in time to see the Uchiha, breathing as heavily as her. She was too concentrated on getting away from those fan girls, that she almost forgot that she was still with Sasuke, the reason for her running in the first place. Most of all, she forgot that she was still holding hands with him. She quickly let his hand go as if she was touched hot molten iron, and leaned on the tree for support instead. The Uchiha didn't looked a bit fazed about it since he was still busy looking back behind them just to make sure no other female had followed them.

"I've never seen so many fan girls in my life. You've beaten senpai's record." she commented, with a feeling of mixed emotions: pity, amusement, surprise, amazement, and confusion. That last emotion came from her puzzlement of why they even like the guy.

"Yeah, I'm not a bit happy to know that though." Sasuke grunted, turning back to her. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something then closed it again. Sakura blinked and tilted her head to the side. The boy hesitated at first but he finally spoke. "Thanks by the way."

The pinkette's eyebrows raised in shock at this, though she covered it up by merely shrugging her shoulders. "No big deal. I'm used to it since I'm acquainted with the Silver Hunters. They're pretty famous around here."

_"Great."_ Sasuke muttered under his breath, like as if he'd received a really bad news.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's just go to Hyuuga-senpai's. Where were we going earlier anyway?" he asked.

Sakura pointed the path in front of them. "Right this way."

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

After assuring Sasuke that the fan girls won't be able to reach them where Neji is, they finally arrived at their destination. They were back to the archery club's training area. Sakura led Sasuke into a smaller cabin which is the size of two tool sheds. It was behind the club's meeting cabin so he wasn't able to see it yesterday. A wooden name plate that says 'Captain', placed on the oak door. Sakura knocked three times and as if on cue they heard a muffled _"Come in." _at the other side of the door. Sakura opened the door and it revealed Neji, sitting on a study table with paper works on top. He was writing something on a notebook, that looked like a journal to Sasuke. The pearl-eyed boy looked up, and he stared at them with a startled expression, as if he didn't expect them to be his visitors. Well, he did expect them to come over, but not together with no killing intent in the atmosphere.

"Sakura, Sasuke." he acknowledged. "I'm guessing that you've come to tell me your decisions?"

"Hn."

"Hai."

"And?" Neji asked expectantly.

The two people in front of the Hyuuga looked at each other as if waiting for other to state their decision. After a minute, Sakura spoke and gave her answer. "I'm agreeing on that deal, although I want to give a few condition on this." she turned to Sasuke, with eyes telling him to give his answer before she continue.

"I agree as well, though I also have a condition myself." he answered, shrugging his shoulders.

Neji closed his eyes, the corners of his lips almost hinting the beginning of a smile. Although, Sakura wouldn't bet on it. He opened his eyes and leaned forward, placing his chin on top of his intertwined hands that were supported by his elbows. "I see, that's good to hear , but would you mind telling me your conditions then?"

Sakura spoke first since the Uchiha seemed to lazy to use his vocal chords. Instead of looking at her Captain, the girl turned to Sasuke, as if indicating that all the conditions would all be applied to him. "First of, no lates. I hate tardy people, they waste precious time, so I don't tolerate that. Secondly, no lazy-asses, I already have enough of Shikamaru-senpai's lethargic attitude. Third, no fan girls during training, I don't want any distractions-"

"What makes you think I'll be hanging around with any of those women?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her incredulously.

"I didn't say you'll bring them." she smirked "It's quite obvious they'll be following you around. What I'm saying is, when we're gonna have training, you'll need to make sure that you've escaped from them, and not lead them to the training grounds. Because if that happens, you're not gonna be the only one to be troubled but also the other members as well." she nodded her head at her Captain, who nodded in return in understanding.

"Don't they already know where you guys train?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

"Nope, the training grounds are hidden, and it's restricted to other students that aren't a member of the club. The whole place is a maze for those who are not familiar with the forest side of the school." she explained.

"I see." he said, yet he did't sound so sure.

"Don't worry. I'll give you a map of the place if you want." she reassured dryly.

"Anything else?" Sasuke prodded.

"Yes." she said simply. "Lastly, and most important of all..." she narrowed her eyes at him distrustfully, hands on her waist "Don't ever disrespect mythology, the Gods, or anything related to them!" Sakura finished, as if Sasuke's life would depend on this last condition.

"Ooo..kay" he said slowly, as if afraid the girl might go into a crazy rampage if he wasn't careful with his answer.

"Swear it on the River Styx!" she demanded.

"River...Sticks?" he repeated.

"NO! Styx! S-T-Y-X! You know, one of the famous rivers in the Underworld, besides the River Lethe? Where the Gods swear upon to keep their oaths?" she ranted on, with an impatient look on her features.

"Oh, that Styx." he muttered, vaguely remembering a book he read about Greek mythology, where it mentioned the said river. If she didn't look so serious, Sasuke would've laughed at her outburst of imaginary rivers. But he decided to humor her if that was the only way to placate her condescending look that looked like she wouldn't appreciate it if he patronize her. "Alright. I swear on the _'River Styx'_ that I will abide on your condition or _'suffer the consequences'_. Happy?"

"A bit satisfied yes." Sakura nodded. "So what's your condition?" she asked back.

"I only have one condition, though I'm not quite sure if you'll be able to fulfill it." he said slowly.

"Name it." Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, while Neji raised a curious eyebrow.

Sasuke sighed and spoke. "Never fall in love with me."

* * *

><p><strong>blackheart01 : What kind of a request is that Sasuke-kun? O.O<strong>

**Duchess : Yeah, and he even asked that so casually. Fufu. Hey, we don't have 'extra notes' today.. I kinda miss it. Ha, what am I saying? Anyways, pls. read and review! **


	6. Deimos

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**Disclaimer : Until the Fates have decided to re-create the past, Naruto is still Kishimoto's. XD**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

**-o-o-Deimos : God of Fear -o-o-**

**...**

Sasuke suddenly felt stupid.

_Why did I even have to say it? Why did I forget that this girl is obviously a man-hater and probably a tomboy?,_ was all Sasuke could think about as he watched the pink-haired girl failing miserably on reigning in her laughter. At first, she tried to stifle it with her hands, but as a few minutes passed, it turned into full blown giggles when she finally understood what he said earlier. Okay, not girlish, annoying giggles, but innocent ones. Like a little girl's. He didn't even expect himself to make her laugh.

He actually sounded big-headed and he felt humiliated, when he saw that even Neji was showing signs of a smile behind Sakura. Willing himself to get his pride back, he put on his stoic facade again, and scowled at the girl.

"Are you done now?" he grunted.

"Wait-haha-I can do this!-haha" she cleared her throat, shook her head, and straightened her composure. "Umm...sorry about that. It's just I've never heard such a silly joke before."

"I wasn't joking." Sasuke snapped, but Sakura ignored his tone.

"That's what makes it funny." she shrugged. "What makes you think I'll fall for you? I don't even like you."

"I'm...just making sure." he said, running out of excuse.

"Don't worry that's the easiest request I ever received from a guy so I guess you get yourself a deal." she took out her hand for a shake, which Sasuke took.

"So when are we starting?" the young Uchiha queried, placing his hands in his pocket when they were done.

"How about after school?" Sakura offered.

"Sounds good to me." Sasuke answered, shrugging.

"Excellent. Now, that it's settled..." Neji started. "I'll be putting your agreement into writing to make it more official and you'll both sign on it later. I also want to add something up on your conditions. Though it's more implied on Sakura." he directed his gaze on the pinkette.

Sakura frowned a bit but she and Sasuke nodded for him to continue.

"If you lose your temper again and cause another trouble..." he stopped for a moment to gave the girl a stern look to let her know he's serious. "...you'll be off the team _permanently.__" _

The girl's expression faltered for a moment. A flash of hesitation reflecting on her eyes, until it went back to its stoic state. "I understand." she answered stiffly, "I also swear it on the River Styx."

Neji stared intently at her for a minute, and sighed afterwards in relief. "Perfect, now..."

* * *

><p><strong><em>...<em>**

_"...Why don't you go ahead and give Uchiha-san a tour on our training grounds while giving these to the team?"_

That was Neji's suggestion, upon handing Sakura a couple of memos for the team to sign or simply announcements for the upcoming events. He sounded like he doesn't need an approval though. Sakura was about to make an unnecessary complaint, but she gave her Captain a curt nod, and trudged to the exit without looking back. Sasuke made the logical choice of following her.

They were silent until they've reached the entrance of a bigger forest, path which seems divided into two. "The right path will lead you to the male members' cabins, and to the left are the female's." she informed him. He may have looked pondering on the last statement, because she elaborated. "I mean the fastest way and yes Uchiha, I'm not the only girl here."

"Hn?"

She sighed. "Anyways, we have cabins for each member designed to our liking. You'll know once you saw it." A spark glowed on her eyes of excitement. "We better get going. This way." They went to the right.

They've reached a cabin same as the size of the Captain's, painted in gray but this is more like a cozy home though. Like the ones going on here likes to rest every once in a while. It is slightly hidden by a large olive tree, that casts a shadow on the place. The nameplate on the door says, 'Shikamaru'. They decided to slid the memo on the space below the door. She's sure that the guy is taking a nap since its too early for class. Before leaving, they heard the flapping wings of an owl that landed on the lone tree next to the said cabin.

Next is a shed that doesn't fit in the place. It is made of brick walls, steel doors that has small lights on the knob and a chimney. There is a single table outside and what looks like a well, so shallow and the water doesn't look potable; like it is used for cleaning or rinsing. Few trees grew in the place, and it seems that the owner is not around.

"This is Naruto's workshop?" he guessed.

"Yeah... it's a mess. Which means, he's been busy lately." Sakura mused peeking on the windows as if checking for something interesting. Then she decided to leave, she can just give it to the boy later since they're classmates.

This time they reached a picturesque view: a cabin made of logs, which has a natural brown-orange color; thick bushes at one side and laurel trees on the other, with flowers on pale yellow-green shade. The stream of crystal water that is at the back of the house, added serenity to the place. It's ideal, just neat and simple.

"This is Apo- Uhm, Sai's place." Sakura stated. "Just stay here, I'll just get- Wanna go inside?"

He raised an eyebrow for a second, as to why she have an access to the guy's place (and also for her mood swing) but he eventually shook his head. She then proceeded inside for a minute then came back carrying a bow, quiver strapped on her back. She's thinking of hunting later after he showed Sasuke the place. "You mind if I bring these? Don't worry, I'm not going to use it on _you_." then she mumbled to herself, _"as much as I would want to." _He gave her a bemused look.

"Nothing." she said dismissively._  
><em>

They continued walking and true to her word, their cabins are designed on how they want it to look like. He remembered seeing one within a rather small vineyard, vines that almost crept at the shed's posts. There's one that is just simple and the one thing that he can't forget is the cabin that is out of the light. It is situated on a deeper part of the forest where the canopies are thick so its blocking the sunlight. It didn't help that the cabin is painted with black, that Sasuke thought the place is deserted. He learned that the place is owned by someone named 'Shino'. He also saw a cabin that was completely painted in red, with fire designs at the bottom part and a few spikes placed here and there. Next to it was a dog house, with the same design as the cabin it was next to. A small sign was buried on the side reading: _BEWARE OF AKAMARU!_

"What is 'akamaru'?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, that's Kiba's dog, he's really cute!" Sakura answered, chuckling. Sasuke remembered the guy. If his memory serves him right, he was the wild-looking guy, with ruffled brown hair and small, inverted red triangles, were tattooed on below his eyes.

"The dog or Kiba?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the question as if it was a ridiculous question for him to ask. "Akamaru of course. Who else are we talking about?"

"Don't believe her, she's talking about me." A male voice replied dryly.

"Yeah, coz you two look alike lately." Sakura responded at the guy he just remembered a second ago, who came from the back of his cabin with Akamaru on his arms. Sakura looked at Sasuke as if saying, _That is Akamaru._

"No wonder you look like Berry and Chime too!" he said rhetorically.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke interrupted, the conversation is getting foreign to him.

"It's my dogs." she stated bluntly to him, then she threw a sharp eye at the Inuzuka teen.

"Yeah, she nicknamed her dog that."

"No one's asking. What were you doing back there?" she asked skeptically.

"Nothing. Do I need permission to roam around my place?" He retorted that made her wheeze and roll her eyes, which made the guy chuckled in return. "I was just joking, Sakura."

The girl smiled a little bit and said, "I know and thanks for backing me up yesterday."

Kiba's eyebrows met for a second in confusion but he smiled as he remembered her verdict. "Oh, that. I was just hoping to witness a fight." He said humbly.

"Whatever. Here." She gave her the minute of their upcoming meeting. "We're leaving."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm just showing the bas- I mean, the new guy around." she shrugged, not really caring about her slip-up, causing Kiba to sweat drop and for Sasuke to frown.

"I see." Kiba replied, narrowing his eyes at the Uchiha and leaned over him, as if measuring him up. To the raven-haired boy's surprise the dog seems to be copying it's master. After a moment, Kiba pulled out and grinned, too wide for the Uchiha's liking. "Hmm... You look like a trouble maker!" he pointed at the young lad.

"Arf!" barked Akamaru.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "And that's bad?"

"Nope! It's perfect! It only means that I'll be enjoying your stay here with the team! By the way, I'm Inuzuka Kiba." he exclaimed excitedly in greeting. Sasuke almost wondered if he was related to Naruto. They both have unnecessary loudmouths and irritatingly energetic attitude.

"Shut up Kiba! I swear you're just like the War God himself." Sakura rolled her eyes as she pulled the Uchiha's sleeve, already learned her lesson from the incident earlier, and dragged him away from the waving Inuzuka boy, Akamaru barking along with his owner.

"See you later, Sakura! You too, Uchiha!"

"Arf!"

A few meters away, is a cabin painted in all shades of blue. There's a brook running through the side of the house, coming from the natural mini-falls that spouts the clearest of waters. Though the palette is calming, there's a disturbing aura that surrounds the place.

Sasuke felt intrigued, mostly because he liked the cabin's exterior that he asked the pinkette. "Whose cabin is that?"

The girl stopped, all the ease in the air was replaced by a deafening silence. He could swear he heard a squirrel running a few meters away, though he's not sure if there're animals there. Then Sakura looked at him, plastering a poker face.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

It was like a whiplash. She was caught off guard by his question. Not because she didn't know the answer, but it brings back a memory that she's trying to erase. _The owner of that cabin..._She was staring for a moment but eventually she shook her head, to conceal her shiver as the past is trying to get in her head.

"We're not allowed on that place." she said with an expressionless face.

She saw Sasuke frowned, not only did she avoided his question but also because he sensed her quick change of temperament. She started walking but he remained on his spot. Sakura stopped and looked back at him, her stoic expression changing into an impatient look. "Are you coming or not?"

He sighed, then followed her.

"So, now-" Wait. This thing. This feeling. She was trained for keen sight and coordination and she's sure she heard a faint blast of air, like something has just been launched. Well, it could be just the wind. She turned to her peripheral vision, only to find out that an arrow is flying towards them.

"Duck!" she shrieked, which is unnecessary as she threw herself at him - out of reflex, _only _reflex; she told herself- and made Sasuke fall on her weight before seeing the arrow missed only a millimeter on her right arm.

_"Ai..." _she mumbled through gritted teeth, not really realizing that she's on top of him. She got on her feet, on aiming position with her weapon, ready to bore a hole to anything or anyone who will mistakenly show up.

Still scanning the area and upon turning to her back, she found the arrow pierced deeply at a lone tree. Her eyes grew wide as she saw what was hanging just at the end of the silver nock. A dark blue paper was neatly tied in the arrow by a silver-colored string. She made hurried steps toward the said tree and roughly pulled the arrow out. She studied the arrow for a minute and had a grim expression set on her face. Forgetting Sasuke, who was still on the ground, she set to walk towards the direction of the girls' cabins.

* * *

><p><strong><em>...<em>**

_"And why are we keeping this as a secret?" The Uchiha queried skeptically, when Sakura declared that they have to keep quiet as to the arrow incident. Well, that is after she have done some weird ritual she called 'offering' on her own cabin's fireplace. Her place is completely painted in silver outside, inside is decorated with high-quality wooden furniture. She has a carpet made of wolf skin and a head of a stag just hanging above the fireplace._

_"I know there's a reason why I felt I need to get weapons from my twin..." she said, her fingers patting her lips, completely talking to herself._

_"Hello?" Sasuke pressed on as she is not paying attention._

_"Yeah, I heard you." she replied nonchalantly. "One reason : I gave a word to find the culprit myself and I'm just keeping it." she replied matter-of-factly,not looking at him. Her mind seems preoccupied of something._

_"I could be dead earlier you know."_

_"But you're still alive. Look- "she sighed. "I know we're not friends or anything to ask you this, but just don't tell it to anyone yet. Act as if nothing happened. Things are easier that way. "_

_"Hn," was his reply, still not convinced. Not that he is the type who liked tell anyone what's happening to his life but he just wants to know her intention out of this._

_"Just think you owe me for saving your life." she supplied._

_"I just got one more question and I'll keep my mouth shut." then he added. "For now, at the very least."_

_Her eyebrows arched for a second, then exhaled in defeat. "Fine."_

_"Can you tell me-" he pointed to her closed hand, clasping onto something. "what is on that note?"_

_'So he did noticed huh?' Sakura thought before unraveling the cerulean paper attached to the silver arrow earlier. She frowned, turning his look at him then back at the paper. Sasuke was just about to say something when she flipped the paper back for him to see, he scowled as the scribbles are unfamiliar to him._

_"Looks like Greek to me..." Sasuke countered idiomatic, though he knew a couple of languages; the one written was not part of it._

_Sakura shrugged. "It is, actually."_

_"So..."_

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

After doing their small task of giving out the club's updates, the small incident that happened in the forest tour and Sakura handing Sasuke a map of their training grounds, the pinkette led the boy back to the school building and towards their classroom with a few minutes to spare before the bell rings. Sasuke easily remembered the _very helpful _short-cut Sakura gave him to avoid his fan girls. The girl told him that it was used by the members to avoid any fan girl/boy attacks, she advised him to use it wisely and that he needed to be quick in making his escapes so no one can find out about it.

"Do you have anymore of those?" he asked, as they waited for people to arrive. Fortunately, the few numbers of their classmates inside were only the male ones and they were either dozing off some more or chatting with each other.

Sakura easily knew what he was asking about. She smirked smugly at him, when she nodded her head once. "Of course we do. The Hunters always make sure to be prepared, whether it be competitions or fan girls... or boys." she added the last part grimly.

Sasuke decided against his urge to ask her about the fan boys, so he asked her the question that he actually wants an answer from. "Can you tell me then?"

"Maybe..." she trailed off, as she started to rummage her bag for something to read before the class starts.

"Maybe what?" he asked almost impatiently.

The girl pulled out a paperback book and started flipping on the pages. "Maybe or maybe not, it depends on my decision."

Sasuke scowled at this. "I could always ask Naruto about it or even the other members."

"You could try." she mumbled under her breath, her interest obviously now diverted on the said book, which Sasuke found unusual. He was used to ignoring girls not the other way around. But he reminded himself that the pinkette is different from them. She would rather spend the day in a Greek museum than pay attention to him for five minutes.

"What do you mean by that?"

Sakura spared him a glance. She was tempted to hit him with the book, but reasoned to herself that her Neji-senpai would not be pleased and most importantly, she didn't want any more damage on her precious books just because of him again. She sighed deeply before giving him an answer. "The thing is, Naruto can't use the short-cuts since he tends to forget them and usually gets lost because of it. _And, _I could sense that you're an anti-social pric-, um, _person_ so I know it would be against your pride to ask people you barely know about things such as an escape route from fan girls. 'Happy?" she asked sarcastically, as she grumpily turned back to her book, muttering something about: _men, idiots, hell hounds and Tartarus._

Sasuke ignored her words as he was left speechless from her explanation. The first one made sense but the second was...weird. The logic was clear but he was a bit surprise that she easily knew a part of his personality even though she only met him for a few days. But his Uchiha pride would not let him surrender to this little pink-haired spit fire so he decided to speak again just for the heck of it.

"Fine." he said finally, waiting for her reaction. He wasn't disappointed. Sakura gazed back at him and raised a curious eyebrow, as if telling him to continue. "What do I have to do for you to tell me?"

The girl blinked in surprise, then smiled too sweetly at him, "You can start by _shutting up_ so I can read in peace."

"...Hn." he replied, before deciding to sit back on his chair.

Unfortunately, her peace only lasted for five minutes, when suddenly, out of nowhere, fan girls popped inside their class room. They were instantly surrounding the young Uchiha much to his irritation. He suddenly felt an ominous death glare from behind him. He sighed. He had a hunch that it would be a pair of green eyes doing that.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"Sorry Sasuke, but Sakura-chan's right. I really don't use those short-cuts that much since it only causes me problems. This school is like a Labyrinth of some sort." Naruto shrugged as he started wolfing down his food. They were currently inside the cafeteria having their lunch. Naruto fortunately invited him over to the Silver Hunter's table so he was able to avoid any more _invitations_ from his fan girls. At least, they were now ogling at him from a safe distance. Some of the members were either hostile, indifferent or friendly towards the Uchiha. He concluded that most of them are close to Sakura, and that they didn't appreciate him messing up with their pink-haired member. He didn't care much about their unwelcoming attitude. As long as he can stay away from those irritating girls, it's fine by him.

"I didn't know you're familiar with the word Labyrinth." he smirked taking a drink from his soda can.

"Shut up." the blonde rolled his eyes, not bothering to shout out at the boy since his number one priority right now is lunch. "When you're around Sakura-chan, you'll get used to it. She rubs off on people." he grinned.

"You mean I'll soon become a Myth maniac?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.

Naruto almost laughed at that, but stopped himself and started scanning the room. He was afraid his friend might hear him and he's scared to feel her wrath. Nobody makes fun of Sakura's belief in Mythology. He tried once and he only ended up ramen-less for almost a week. "Don't let her hear you that or she'll curse you." Naruto hissed at him.

Sasuke blinked incredibly at him before shaking his head, a frown setting on his features. "Profanities or weird voodoo?"

"The second one. And don't think I'm joking. It's proven. You can even ask Captain." the blonde added his last two sentences when it seemed that Sasuke was about to argue about it.

Sasuke chose not to ask why even the serious Hyuuga boy believed the pinkette's crazy antics and instead asked Naruto something that has been bothering his mind since this morning. "I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"When Sakura gave me a tour of the club, we saw this blue cabin, and when I asked her who owned it, she practically changed her mood from civil to hostile for a moment."

"Of course she would." Naruto murmured under his breath, forgetting his lunch for a minute, his expression somehow a bit serious.

"Do you know who owns it?" Sasuke asked as his ears caught what Naruto said.

Naruto nodded his head once, the Uchiha saw a flash of reluctance in the boy's eyes, before the blonde let out a wide grin and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry man, we're not allowed to talk about it. Captain's orders. Anyway, back to your fan girl problem.I know you'll easily get through it. Besides, as long as you're with Sakura you're safe."

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked, his attention piqued despite the fact that Naruto bluntly changed the subject.

"You don't know?" Naruto asked him a bit surprised.

"Know what?" he asked back.

"I guess she didn't tell you." Naruto mumbled to himself, and continuing his statement after seeing the Uchiha's impatient gaze. "Fan girls are actually afraid of Sakura-chan..."

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"How many times do I have to tell you?! No books during lunch!"

Sakura almost pouted as her long-time best friend, swiped the book from her hands, but the sandwich in her mouth prevented her from doing so. She and her friends are walking through the hallways towards the school cafeteria. She was both hungry for food and engrossed with the book she was reading that she decided to take a little snack while reading and walking at the same time.

She took the bread from her mouth and started defending herself. "But Ino-pig! We're still walking to the cafeteria, you're not even taking your lunch yet."

Yamanaka Ino, stopped walking, turned towards her childhood best friend hands on her hips and a frown on her face. She's one of the most popular girls in school. Smart, rich, gorgeous, confident and always the center of attention. She's a year older than Sakura and the girlfriend of one Nara Shikamaru, much to her fan boys' disappointment. "Technically Sweety , it's already lunchtime and you're already eating! Plus, reading while walking is almost the same as driving while texting! That's the reason why you're in trouble right now Forehead!" the blonde scolded the pinkette in front of her, like a strict mother. She was already aware about what happened to the girl. Hearing the latest gossip was her favorite past time next to shopping.

Sakura rolled her eyes, wondering how Shikamaru was able to last the girl version of Naruto._"Fine!_ I won't do it anymore. Can I have my book now?"

"Say _'Please'_" Ino grinned, waving the book on Sakura's face, then pulling it away when the girl tried to snatch it back.

"..."

"I'm waiting."

"..._**please"** _it was said through gritted teeth, and glaring eyes.

"Aw...hear that girls? Forehead actually said please!" the blonde called at their companions.

One with the brunette hair that was tied into two buns and chocolate-colored eyes, snickered. Her name was Ten Ten. A very athletic girl, whose very much acts boyishly like Sakura although she has more feminine side than the pinkette. She was two years older than Sakura and is classmates with Ino, Shikamaru and Neji. Rumor has it that the Hyuuga boy had a thing for the girl, and vice-versa. Next to her was Hinata, who was looking worriedly at the two girls.

"I-Ino-chan." Hinata started.

"Oh come on, give it back to her Ino. You know you'll regret it later if you don't." Ten Ten spoke up for the Hyuuga girl.

"As if." Ino flipped her hair to the side, until she heard a growl coming from the pinkette. She gulped, when she turned to see the deadly aura coming from the said girl. "Oops."

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

Sasuke didn't know if he should believe Naruto's statement earlier, just as he was about to ask, a shrill cry was heard from the doors of the cafeteria, suddenly a girl with a pony-tailed blonde hair came barging in, followed by a very familiar pinkette running after her. The latter looking murderous while the former ran up to Sasuke and the Hunters' table. She tugged the sleeping Shikamaru's shoulders roughly, and used him to shield herself from the fuming pinkette.

"SHIKA-KUN! HIDE ME FROM FOREHEAD GIRL! SHE'S GONNA KILL MEEEE!" the blonde screamed loudly, much to everyone's dismay. She could be heard from a 50 mile radius and the lazy Nara was unfortunately on the receiving end of it. Sasuke slightly wondered if the boy's gone deaf already. To their surprise, Shikamaru only grunted irritably as if only hearing an alarm clock by his ear.

"What is it now Ino?" he dragged lazily, not caring if his shirt sleeve is almost torn from Ino's grip.

Before Ino could speak, Sakura was already in front of the couple, a glare set upon her heart-shaped face. "Shikamaru-senpai, _Ino-pig..._"

Ino squealed girlishly and hid behind Shikamaru. "Save me!"

Shikamaru languidly looked from his girlfriend to Sakura, and back again. He simply gave a huge sigh and asked, "What did she do this time?"

"_My. Book._" she said through clenched teeth.

"You said you wouldn't read during lunch." Ino retorted, with her hands on her hips.

"And said you would give it back after I said pl-... _that word__!_" Sakura deadpanned.

"What word?" Naruto piped up.

Ino giggled. "Please."

The Hunters' table was filled with snickers, save for Sasuke and Shikamaru. Hearing this, Sakura turned her murderous glower at her teammates, which made them shut up immediately. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. They all seemed scared of the pink fur ball. Making a mental note that she'll be dealing with the boys later, the pinkette redirected her gaze at the couple.

"Give me back my book _or_ _else_..." her tone sent shivers down everyone's spine, or was it the temperature suddenly going down?

"Or else what Forehead?" Ino haughtily replied.

Sakura gave a menacing smirked which made Ino want to back out from her challenge. "You know so well what I can do _Ino-chan. _Remember what happened to Naruto's ramen incident?" Naruto visibly shook from his seat in fear as he remembered "I can do that kind of torture again you know. For example, your designer clothes could easily get burned, or even your expensive brands of make-up can be completely lost from your sight...by _accident_ of course." she added the last part nonchalantly.

Ino and most of the female population inside the cafeteria paled at her threat. Sasuke was pleasantly surprised when he saw the fan girls slowly back away from their table, without being noticed.

"Fine! Here's your book!" Ino passed the paperback to Sakura. The pinkette grinned, clutching the reading material to her chest, before sticking her tongue out at Ino. As she was about to take a seat at the table, she stopped on her tracks and blinked after spotting Sasuke for the first time. She was confused for a moment but shrugged it off, then she suddenly glared at him and the fan girls near their table, when she noticed them too.

"I better not be _disturbed_ on my lunch." she growled loud enough for everyone to hear. There was an implication on her tone that promises torture to anyone who did, and it made the fan girls cringe from their position. They simply didn't want her threat to Ino to be set on them instead. Sakura sent another glare and thunder boomed for a second, though it was sunny outside. Because of that, the fan girls scrambled away from her.

_So Naruto was right,_ a certain Uchiha thought.

"S-Sakura-chan..." a shy Hinata called out, with Ten Ten standing beside her. They barely noticed her and Ten Ten enter the cafeteria earlier because of the little scene they created.

"Hinata! Ten Ten! Come on, let's eat!" Sakura's mood changed instantly, at the sight of the two. Everyone sweat dropped.

* * *

><p><strong>blackheart01: Hmm, I wonder who that psycho is? Anyways, I know this chapter seems familiar to those of you fans of Percy Jackson series, have you guessed who owns the other mentioned cabins?<strong>

**duchie : I had fun writing that part. Fufu! Just to let you know, there is one particular cabin that is inspired by his/her throne. Others, are based on their symbols. XD But lets see, if you can figure it out. *wink* and yeah, I wonder what is on that note.. anyways, there're a lot of time skips especially on the first part, it bothers me too..anyways, see you soon!**

**Duchess and blackheart 01 out!**

**Read and review!**

* * *

><p>*extra notes*<p>

We used a God as a title for the first time. However, it pertains to the fear of the fan girls towards Sakura and also the _short lived rather unexpressed_ fear that Sakura felt on the cabin incident. Though, one of the reasons why this chap was delayed is because we can't think of a deity. The title might change, I think. Any suggestions?


	7. Eros

****blackheart01 has signed in.****

**blackheart01: Hiya everyone! How's it goin'? It's been a long time since we've updated this story so...Gomen (-_-)'**_  
><em>

**Fortunately, Duchie was able to come up with this chapter, it's mainly her work, and I was a bit busy with my other stories, so yeah... I wasn't able to contribute a lot..eheheh... Wonder how it goes?**

**Duchess has signed in.**

**Duchess: **Meaning to say, majority of the mistakes are mine. *gulps nervously* A-Anyways, on with the s-story! ****

**blackheart01: Sakura-chan, saying the disclaimer? (puppy eyes)**

**Sakura: (_sigh)_ These two girls don't own Naruto...also puppy eyes don't work on me so quit it! (glares at blackheart who sweatdrops, while backing away)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

**-0-0-0- Eros : God of love -0-0-0-**_  
><em>

**_..._**

"Oh, still awake? Very unlikely, did something happen?"

To which, Sasuke frown at his elder brother's remark for several reasons. First, because he so rudely entered his room at this hour of the night. Second, why didn't he knew that he entered? And third, is because of his deduction that there's something bothering him. As if.

Well, not really. He shifted uneasily on his bed.

He tore his gaze from the ceiling, adjusted his hands at the back of his head and looked at his brother, who comfortably grabbed a chair to sit on and placed the tea on his (Sasuke's) study table. "You coming here, is what I think that is more unlikely."

"What? I can't come to my little brother's room now?" he said, sipping the said drink.

"Hn."

He cooed. "You really hate it when I call you that." He smiled. "So what are your plans for tomorrow? You know, Valentine's?" he beamed while wiggling his eyebrows.

He twitched an eye for a second, willed away the images that almost, _almost _haunts him every time this so called Love Day comes, wherein a mob of girls came chasing him with animated hearts on their eyes and chocolates, then put up a smirk on his face. "Hn." For some reason, the girls get an abnormal hormone hyperactivity during that day, preying hungrily on him and trust me, he experienced enough to affirm that.

"I bet you're thinking of how you can ask that feisty classmate of yours to go out?"

Okay, if he was the one drinking that tea, he's sure he would choke on that or better yet spit it out on him. Even if that's embarrassing. But since that's not the case, he glared at Itachi and his weird suggestions. Really, why would he think that?

"Haruno?" he said incredulously.

"Oh, so that's her name."

Seriously, he feels like Itachi is playing with him. Why would he come into his room anyway? And him? Sakura? On Valentine's? You've got to be kidding me. That's the last thing he would ever, _ever_ think of in his life.

But wait, that rings it. If he would stick with Sakura tomorrow for practically the whole day until this February 14th ordeal is over, chances were, no fan girls can come up close to him. And here he is, brooding of how he can escape those girls when the answer's right in front of him. Problem is, the pinkette is being annoying these days, after the cabin incident, he noticed that she is deliberately ignoring him and only talks to him when its about their training and even makes the training harder for him. But being the smart guy that he is, of course he would chose to be with the troublemaker Sakura than those sickening, irritating presence of the fan girls.

Even if he doesn't want to admit it, he needs that _weirdo's_ help.

Uhm question, how to approach a girl?

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

The following day, everything started out well. Sasuke had planned what he needs to do last night, he settled of getting help from the pinkette as a last resort if his plan backfired. Well, not really help as in _asking_ her. You know what I mean. And yeah, his pride is getting better off of him. To start with, he decided that he needs to come late than his usual very early arrival and staying at their classroom routine, so by the time he came, the students are inside their respective rooms and no one would see him. Which is fine, considering that Kakashi is their first class.

He asked the driver to stop a few blocks away from school rather than the school gates, and wear a cap upon walking on the streets. He entered the school surreptitiously, making sure that no one will notice him. He saw their building on his view, so he made hurried steps to go inside. Their room is on the fourth floor, (heck, so high) now if he could just sneak in and—

"Sasuke-kuuunnn!"

"KYAAA!"

"Hey girls, he's here!"

—get away with the fangirls. Damn. Too much wishful thinking.

Instantly,out of nowhere, he saw a horde of girls, running towards him. Without missing a beat, he darted left towards the soccer field. Before he reached it, he scooted again to intentionally lose them and swerve to the back of the building, where it's dark and no one can see him immediately. The crowd seems to be half now as he can see from his spot, some were smart and even suggested to go by groups and start searching the school grounds. He decided not to stay where he was, coz if the situation comes, he won't be able to escape as he's on a dead end. The girls continue to look for him. Holding his cap, wait, he lost his cap! Damn, just as he was about to flee. He peeped again, and the girls were looking at the opposite direction. He slip quietly, but one spotted him.

"There!" he saw Karin pointing at him and sprinted at his direction with the other girls tailing her.

_What are these girls? Hounds? _he thought while running away, and tried to put as much distance as possible with the girls. But its draining the energy out of him. He can't come close to the building still. He saw a bush and hid there. The girls' steps went past him, lasted for about a minute or two. Panting and annoyed to no extent, Sasuke begrudgingly observed any stray movements. His plan of completely ignoring them is not working.

He heard a rustle on a nearby bush. It couldn't be another fan girl. Heck, he's still not recovered from running. He stooped lower on the bush and tried to maintain his breathing because someone might hear it. Could they figured out that he'd purposely lost them again and hid somewhere?

There's none. He stood up.

Then, all of a sudden, he saw the person he never expected the most.

Sakura appeared behind a tree, stifling a yawn.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

A pair of green orbs meets onyx ones. One narrowed. Other stared.

"Just what on earth are you doing here?" a totally infuriated voice rang out.

"Hn."

"Don't you give me that response!"

"You should be in class." he stated instead.

Onyx eyes stared some more.

Green orbs glaring now.

She smirked. "Like there _is _a class. Ino sent me a text message just now that it's just half day. I shouldn't have come if I knew. Anyways, I'm leaving."

That alarmed him a bit. No classes. Whole day of fan girls. He blurted out the first excuse that came into his mind. "Naruto is looking for you." Stupid, stupid excuse. He cursed inwardly. As if Sakura will buy that. He should have said Neji, Shikamaru or Sai—

She froze. Then gaped. Then closed her mouth. "Did you, by any chance, see Naruto with Rock Lee?"

"..."

"Oh, right. You didn't know him yet. He has these big eyes, thick eyebrows...?"

"Hn?" he played along.

She suddenly look worried.

"Oh, damn! How can I go home now? Lee might be at the gates, or whatnot. You!" she pointed at Sasuke. "You are not going to tell them that you saw me. You—" she smiled menacingly. "...are coming with me."

And before he knew it, he was dragged by her. A couple of fan girls, saw them but left them alone after getting just one deadly look from Sakura. They practically created a space for them to pass while whispering. She is definitely the last person you wanna mess with especially if she just woke up.

Oh but there's one who isn't the least affected.

"Wait a minute— what is happening here?" Karin blurted out. "Are you seducing our Sasuke-kun!?" she accused. That twitch his eye a bit.

She scoffed. "Me? S_educing _him? Karin, I didn't know you have a wild imagination. Not that you have a brain to begin with and jeez girls, five _more_-meter radius. Look at the Uchiha's scared face."

This time the onyx eyes glared too.

"Then why are you holding him?" a random girl he recognized as Riku, one of Karin's minions, asked warily.

She let go of his hand. "Now I don't."

"Che. " Karin sneered. Then looked at Sasuke, with batting eyelashes. "Sasuke-kun, dear, would you like to have a lunch with me?" Swear, he can just vomit now.

Sakura snorted. "_Dear_?"

"SHUT UP HARUNO! Why don't you just shoot arrows, and leave us alone here?"

"I would prefer that but no." she smiled mischievously. "I have to go somewhere with your _dear _Sasuke-kun." she said the last part sarcastically.

"Where is that?"

"Somewhere secret." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. Why is she doing this? Then, she took hold of his hand again and smiled innocently. "Right, Sasuke-kun?" she said while gripping tighter on his hand, then he caught on. She was acting. Dumbfounded, he looked away. The fan girls sees this as his approval so they gasped.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"When did—you two together?!"

"This is so not happening!"

Then unbelievable as it was, the fan girls are scuttling away, with disappointed and sad faces, hauling a screaming and hysterical Karin in tow. He felt movement on his left. Sakura removed his hand off him and to his surprise, she is smiling triumphantly.

"Why did you do that?"

"I wanted to freak out Four-eyes." she narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me you're worried that they'll talk about us instead of thanking me? Egotistical, aren't we?" she said scoffing.

"Hn."

"You were having problems with them in the first place, just trying to give a hand. Besides, I have no choice. Captain will be mad at me if he finds out that I let you get harassed by those girls."

"You wanted to avoid Naruto." he pointed out.

"Oh and that." she giggled. "Enough of this. Let's go to the camp." she said and started walking towards their training grounds. He followed her without complaint, (seriously can you?) while thinking of different things.

It seems that he needs her help after all. Good thing that she didn't find out his problem. Fan girl predicament solved. But, now he is indebted to her. He must do something in return for her. He sighed and unconsciously look at his palm. His eyebrow arched at the sudden thought that came into his mind.

Sakura's hands are warm. Firm. Silky.

And he liked it.

_Weird._

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

They were walking on a different path this time, for they're heading towards the girl's cabins. They stopped in front of a large greenhouse.

She went inside, while him still following her. They've passed a large garden full of seedlings of different plant species. In the end of the path, there's a coffee table. They didn't stop there but went to a door at the right and there, revealed a gazebo in the middle of the flowerbed under a glinting sun.

"This is Hina-chan's place. Nice, right?" she asked.

"Hn," he nodded in approval. He's not actually the nature-type but the place really is beautiful. It gives you the feeling of comfort and solitude. And that's what he is. A solitary man.

"I also have some plants here. If you look at the right, _there_, that's narcissus plants. Beside, are hyacinths and anemones."

"Myth related, I see." he muttered.

"Yeah, and that's not it. I have trees too. But they're still young so they're still inside the greenhouse. And one kind of herb."

"Which is?"

"Tarragon. Scientific name: _Artemesia Dragunculus_. _Artemesia_. Artemis, got it?" she stated, smiling.

_What should I say now? _he thought. Obviously, Sakura is trying to start a conversation, which, he never bothered to do in his life. He felt obligated to be considerate with her and try to reply, because in the first place, she helped him.

"Is there anything else about you not connected to Myth? Anything?"

Okay, not that kind of question. But he can't think of what to ask anyway. Its not like he wanna know something about her. Though, it might be interesting to know if there's something she is fond of that is normal. Or common, for that matter.

Her look shifted to glare. "Yeah, actually there is." she replied. That caught his attention. "I hate you with no Greek or Roman influence, how's that?" she retorted.

Way to go in starting up conversations.

"Hn. Why were you looking for Rock Lee earlier anyway?" he asked somewhat bluntly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Heck, never! I was just asking coz, you know...Valentine's.. and—"

"You have a date?" he sounded a bit incredulous.

"No!" she said mortified. "I'm trying to avoid him, for your information. Because unlike you, I don't tolerate admirers. fans, _stalkers_ whatever you wanna call it." she spat.

He smirked. "You really have an awful, loose sense of judgement towards me."

"I don't think so. In fact, I know you're a social retard just by looking at you."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Then you must be blind."

She cooed. "Oh, you tell me."

Teasing. She is definitely teasing him but damn, he is still annoyed. He looked to the side and stared at the scenery. Did he just say that he needs to do something to pay her back? Oh, coz he is definitely doubting that now. He shouldn't have come to school. Damn Itachi and his crazy antics. For persuading-blackmailing him to come today, with his mom as his accomplice, insisting to ask Haruno Sakura on a date. And mom, being his mom, got frantic about his 'baby' going out with a girl. They even stuff a pack of chocolates in his bag. _Oh hell._

_"Gain her trust."_

_He frowned at his sudden statement. "Hn?"_

_"Her trust, little brother. If you get that, everything will be smooth between you two. _Why on earth would I do that?_ he thought._

_"Be a friend first, of course. Then strengthen the bond by increasing encounters—"_

_"Encounters?" he asked curiously._

_"Yes, like instances or events wherein you could spend the time together. Until you can't practically live without the presence of the other."_

_"Creepy. And this is coming from my brother who switches girls every time?"_

_"Hehe. Yes, but this is not about me Sasuke! I'm saying this for you to have a normal social life!"_

_"Absurd." _

_"Afterwards,_ you could asked her on a date."__

__"I told you, I'm not interested_—___

__"Okay, I get it. The thing is for you to have a good relationship with people, trust is the key. Sometimes it matters more than love. Anyways, you still need to straighten out things with your classmate you had a fight with. You mention that she is going to be your coach?"__

__"Yes?"__

__"OK, but with teachers, there's a different approach." he grinned. "You need to act as a troubled child so she will always_—___

__"You also make a move on teachers?!" __

__"What? No! I was about to say the strategy to make a good impression on teachers so they won't be hard on you."__

__"Oh."__

__"Remember, gain her trust."__

He was snapped from his reverie when he heard a rumbling sound. He automatically snapped his head left to right to check where that was coming from. Then he saw Sakura, holding her stomach with a little blush. _  
><em>

"I'm starving. I haven't eaten." she confessed. "Do you have food?"

He stared. "Where's yours?"

She shot him a dark look. "Give me your bag."

That startled him. No, she can't see his bag's contents. Itachi placed a lot of sweets there. And, he doesn't wanna give her the wrong idea. She would definitely have something to tease about him again. He can't let that happen.

He smirked. "No way."

"Yes way. Give me that or I'll take it!"

He instantly snatched his bag when she began to reach for it. He clutched it protectively, hugging it like his life depends on it. She, on the other hand, kept pulling it from him. The chocolates must be crushed by now. Who cares?

"Why won't you share?!"

"Back off Haruno and stop mugging me."

"No I'm not! I'm asking nicely earlier." she snapped.

He sighed. "Fine, I'll get one for you. But don't touch my belongings."

She gaped but agreed. "Okay."

"Stay here."

There he left her and sauntered past to the field of flowers. After a few minutes, he spotted a place where shrubs grow and fruits are nearly dropping on the ground in abundance. There's also small trees that he can just climb. He went to a certain plant which is in front of him and harvest a lot of the pinkish fruits. He doesn't recognize it but there's ants bustling below the tree and carrying the remnants from the fruit that fell so maybe the fruit is edible. He also got a couple of oranges and berries before going back to Sakura.

She was still on the same spot, but resting her head on the gazebo's post. He noticed that she was wearing earphones so he just placed all the fruits he got on the table in front of her. She instantly removed it and went down to observe what he have gathered. Her eyes fixed on the pinkish fruits that he brought. She is looking at it closely, then smelled it afterwards. She must be checking if its poisonous or not. Then she looked at him after putting it down. She reached for strawberries.

"Where'd you get those?" pointing to the fruit she is holding earlier.

"Near the oranges. Why? Is it toxic?"

"Actually no, its used as an antioxidant now..." she said then got a piece and toss it at him. He begrudgingly took a bite and relish the sweetness of the fruit that's playing in his mouth. It surprised him that the simple fruit actually can be this juicy. Even the seeds can be eaten. He looked at Sakura who is currently staring oddly at him. _Is there something wrong on how I'm eating it?_ he thought. "But before it was..." she trailed off.

"?"

"...'the fruit of the dead'."

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"I don't understand it Sai." Naruto stated and shot a curious look on the black-haired artist, sitting across him with a book on his hands. They were in an empty classroom at the end of their floor.

"Is there something you do?"

"Of cou— Hey! what's that supposed to mean?!" the blond yelled indignantly.

Sai just smiled at this. "Nothing. You were saying?"

"Oh." the blond seemed convinced so he went on. "I don't understand why we have to capture Lee and keep him hostage here?"

"Because he will pursue Sakura-chan remember?" then he spare a look at the guy wearing a green, skin-tight overall, with a puppy-look on his eyes. The said guy keeps on squirming while trying to say something but can't due to a handkerchief on his mouth.

"Oh, yeah..." he said scratching his head. "But I still don't get it. Girls are supposed to pursue the guys at Valentine's, right?"

"That is not the case with Lee or the fanboys." he sighed. "Anyways, why don't I go ahead and tell you the story I'm reading right now?"

"Is that the same material as what Kakashi-sensei's reading?" he eyed him suspiciously.

"No."

"OK, But that's better be good or else you will treat me at Ichiraku's for a whole week!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

Sai just smiled, while Rock Lee wriggling on the background.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

Sasuke's back to brooding. After he made a scene of gagging out the fruit that he ate and watching Sakura laughing at him, guess you couldn't blame him.

"Still mad?" Sakura asked, smirking. "I told you it's not toxic right?"

"..."

"Oh, not talking huh?" she stated. "I didn't know you're sensitive."

"Life and death is not a matter to be joked about." he snapped.

She sighed dismissively. "Yare, yare."

_What is wrong with this girl? _he contemplated.

Sakura then stopped, she must have noticed Sasuke's seriousness. She reached for the remaining fruit on the table. The reason for Sasuke's annoyance. She divided it into two and take the other half. "I'll prove to you that it's safe." he offered the other half at him. He looked at her first then took the fruit eventually. "Let's eat it together."

"What if you're just trying to kill me? You hate me after all."

"Oh, I really hate you yes, but not enough to kill you okay?" she rolled her eyes. "C'mon, you didn't have any of what you've brought me. It's unfair that I am the only one who can get to eat." still persisting him.

"I'm not hungry." he countered.

"Trust me." she said firmly and a little impatient.

"No." he shot back.

_"Gain her trust."_

Itachi's voice reverberated on his head. For the first time ever, he's thinking of listening to his elder brother's advice. But that's what his brother wants right? To call off a truce with this girl. Besides, its about time. Maybe its best if he's on Sakura's side. That will mean fan girl-free life forever anyway. _So, I just have to die to get her trust?_ That doesn't seem to make sense. Guess he have to try and see what happens?

He watched as Sakura took a bite of her fruit and decided to do the same. The fruit is delicious, sweeter the second time around.

"See? It's safe. Told you." Sakura said smugly. "It's coz you don't trust me, do you?"

_I think I do now, _he thought. Instead of replying, he chose to get the last piece of the produce and handed out the half onto her. "And you hate me, so we're even."

"Agreed."

__Sometimes it matters more than love.__

No conversation permeated between them after that as they stayed quiet, savoring the sweetness of the pomegranates.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"I guess everything went well today, huh?"

Sasuke tried to hide his startled expression with a blank facade. For the second time, Itachi barged into his room without him noticing his presence. How the hell he does that, Sasuke wouldn't know. Sasuke simply groaned in reply and went back staring at the ceiling as he lay on his bed.

"Are you going to completely ignore me and make me force you to talk, or will you answer me properly, _little brother_?" Itachi raised an eyebrow at him, walking over to the same chair he sat on before and settled himself on it again.

Sasuke growled irritated and sat up to scowl at Itachi, who simply stared back ignoring his dagger look. "Hn. It went fine."

The elder Uchiha grinned triumphantly, when the boy answered. "How did you do it? Did you ask for her help?"

"No. I didn't have to. She was able to help me without her knowing." he unwillingly replied.

"Why does it feel like something like that would happen?" Itachi mumbled, a flash of disappointment showed on his face. "Anyways, were you able to gain her trust?"

"...somewhat." he answered slowly, watching his brother's facial expression turn to confusion, so he decided to explain further. "She wasn't that hostile today. I could almost call it friendly, if not for the constant threats she gives me every ten minutes of our conversation." he added, making his brother chuckle.

"She's that tough, huh?" Sasuke nodded his head. "How were you able to survive the fan girls?" Itachi asked, wondering why his brother didn't look dishelved, harrased nor abused considering what day it was, plus he didn't reek of chocolates like the last year's Valentine's when he came home from school and Itachi was in Japan at the time.

"Easy. I spent the whole day with her. She's like an anti-fan girl charm." Sasuke shrugged, smirking as he remembered how Sakura scared off his annoying mob of nightmare.

"Talented, pretty and with an 'I-don't-give-a-damn attitude. Just you're type of girl huh?" Itachi teased.

"How did you know she's pretty?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Because you didn't deny it, and the fact that you also didn't deny that she's you're type." Itachi grinned mischievously.

"Hn."

"See? You still didn't correct me! You do like her." the young man's smile widened.

"Shut up." Sasuke rolled his eyes at him.

"You make this Haruno girl sound so interesting. You wouldn't mind it if I go there and meet her up would you?" Itachi asked feigning innocence.

"Do whatever you want."

"You don't care if I asked her out on a date or something?"

"Unless you're a Greek god or a myth fanatic like her, she wouldn't spare you a second glance." Sasuke answered dismissively, as he went to lying back on the bed, making it clear that he wants to end the conversation.

Sensing his brother's tired tone, Itachi shrugged and stood up from his seat. "You know what I'm capable of, Sasuke."

Sasuke frowned deeply at the ceiling at his brother's statement. "Whatever."

Itachi chuckled about to exit the room when Sasuke called him. "Yes?"

"Knock on the door next time, or I'll be forced to lock my door from now on."

Itachi smirked. "I got your room's key, _little brother._" he answered, before closing the door, leaving Sasuke to his thoughts.

* * *

><p>Sasuke sighed, unable to sleep as he remembered the events that happened today. Spending the day with Sakura in the greenhouse was uneventful and interesting at the same time. They didn't talk much but he enjoyed the comfortable silence. Though it surprised him a lot that he could last with the company of a girl for more than an hour. He took the time to observe her as she busily tended to her plants for a moment as he ate. While ignoring him completely, Sakura allowed herself to let down her tough mask and Sasuke was able to have a glimpse of her gentle nature, even though it was mainly directed on the plants and not him.<p>

At the end of the day, they agreed to wait for everyone to leave before them to make sure not one fan boy or girl could spot them and cause another rampage. They took that time to have Sasuke learn the basics of archery, the materials used to make the arrows and bows and how to take care of them. It somehow made the boy a bit interested on the topic. Sakura's lectures weren't as boring or exaggerated as a teacher's.

Unconsciously, he put his hand inside his pocket and he took out a small, round chocolate wrapped in a silver candy wrapper.

_"Here."_

_"What's this for?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow puzzled._

_"Since you've been a good student today, that's my reward to you." Sakura smirked._

_"I'm not a kid. I also don't like sweets." he replied._

_"Do whatever you want with it, throw it away or give it to someone." she shrugged. "Just consider it as my thanks for helping me avoid the fan boys, too."_

_"You helped me from those girls. We're just even."_

_"If you say so." she replied. They were already at the gates and she turned back to him. "I'll be on my way now. See you tomorrow at training."_

_"Hn." he nodded._

_"Happy Valentine's to us. Congratulations for surviving this day!" she chuckled to herself, as she jokingly shook his hand as well, before leaving without waiting for his reply..._

_"Happy Valentine's, Weirdo."_ Sasuke smirked, as he fell asleep, his hand still clutching on the small treat.

* * *

><p><strong>duchess: I apologize if anyone is expecting of a very fluffy scene due to the title, hehe.. they're still not friends remember? Hope you enjoy it though. I'm tired. My back's aching. =^.^=<strong>

**blackheart01: I'm sleepy...nyt nyt! (-_-)zzzzZZZ**

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***read and review guys***


	8. Hephaestus Pt 1

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**blackheart01: 'Sup? How ya doin' folks? Miss us?**

**duchess : We appreciate the reviews we got last chapter that we got so inspired so here we are again. See what your reviews can do to us? *.***

**blackheart01: We're not going to make this too long, so Sakura-chan? Disclaimer please?**

**Sakura: (sigh) They don't... pay me for this...**

**blackheart01: Mou! Saki-chan!**

**Sakura: They don't own this thing! So stop bothering me!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

**-0-0-0- Hephaestus: God of Fire, Metalworking, Stone masonry, and the Art of Sculpture** **-0-0-0-**

**Part 1**

**...**

"One more, Uchiha." a female's voice sternly ordered.

_How many times has she repeated those words and were not yet finished?, _Sasuke sighed under his breath in exhaustion, as he did what he was told by the pinkette standing a few steps away from him. From his peripheral view, he saw her serious expression, her arms crossed over her chest, her hawk like eyes studying his form and how he handled these stuffs in his hands. He knew she was checking if he was making any mistakes on either his composure or even the slightest action he did.

"I don't see the sense in doing this." he muttered but loud enough for her to hear.

Instead of her expected scowl or yelling, the girl simply smirked when he met her eyes. "It would help you greatly."

"_Please_, pray tell me how carrying _buckets_ of water _from_ the river to the greenhouse will help me in shooting arrows." he said exasperatedly, as he entered the said area.

"It will make you gain more strength for your upper body, plus it's also for stamina and cardiac improvement." the girl simply answered. "And you're also helping Hinata-chan's plants to grow properly."

"S-Sakura-chan, I think Uchiha-san is tired." Hinata, who just came out from the greenhouse, worriedly said as she also watched the boy fill the greenhouse's large water container inside. "Maybe you guys should take a break?"

Sakura grinned as she stopped next to Hinata. The girl was also carrying a bucket of water in each hand. "Don't worry Hina-chan, this is the last batch so we'll be taking a break after we filled up the tank completely." Sakura said as she followed Sasuke inside.

_Which means we have two more rounds_, Sasuke thought in annoyance as he calculated the water they've gathered from the big red line that indicates that it's full. He stepped to the side when he felt Sakura brushed past him to pour the water in. He idly wondered how the girl could be so energetic after running back and forth from the river to there for about the_ nth_ time since they started this morning. And that she can still give a smile at her friend despite the fact that she's tired. He knew she was, what with all the sweat on her neck and forehead and her heavy pants when they were trekking their way to the river.

"What are you looking at Uchiha?" he heard Sakura say, which pulled him back from his train of thoughts. He didn't realize he was already staring at her.

"Hn. Nothing." he replied as he picked up the buckets and turning to exit and lead the way back to the river.

Sakura shrugged as she jogged lightly to catch up to him. Not noticing Hinata's amused gaze as she watched their backs.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"Would you like some sugar, Uchiha-san?" Hinata offered, as the three of them lounged inside the greenhouse's gazebo having tea, after Sakura decided that they've gathered enough water. They still have an hour to spare before the school bell rings because they came too early. Hinata for her usual tending of her plants and the other two for training.

Sasuke was about to answer, but Sakura beat him to it. "Don't bother Hina-chan. He doesn't like sweets." Which made him raise an eyebrow, slightly surprised that she remembered that.

"I see." Hinata smiled kindly. "Thanks again you two, for helping me out."

"It's alright. The guys aren't here yet, plus it's good exercise."

"Hn." Sasuke simply nodded his head. He knew that the girl was Neji's cousin since Sakura informed him earlier. Although, the identical eyes were already an obvious give-away. He's actually fine with the girl for two reasons. One, she's polite. Two, which was most important, she's _not_ a fan girl.

"How's the training going so far?" Hinata asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Fine." Sakura shrugged.

"I haven't touched a _single_ arrow yet." Sasuke stated, scowling.

"Because you're not ready." she shot back, sipping on her tea.

"When will I be _ready _then?"

"When I say so."

"Should I assume it's a never then?"

"It depends on you, Uchiha."

The two arguing teens stopped when they heard Hinata's soft giggles. The girl halted and blushed when she noticed their stares.

"What's so funny, Hina-chan?"

Hinata shook her head. "I just remembered you when you started you're training. You were having the same argument with Neji-nii-san when he was training you. You almost challenged him into a fist fight. And I remember him _almost_ agreeing to it."

"Up until now, he always threatens to ban me from touching my arrows." Sakura rolled her eyes at the memory.

"So I guess you're training Uchiha-san the way Neji-nii-san did?" Hinata asked.

The girl shrugged again. "It worked on me. Why not test it on him?"

"Wait, Neji-senpai personally trained you?" Sasuke sounded almost doubtful, and the girl heard it.

"You have a problem with that Uchiha?" Sakura challenged.

Sasuke was about to retort, when they heard someone yelling loudly.

"SAKURA-CHAAAN! Are you there?"

They all turned their heads at the entrance, just in time to see Naruto's head pop up. When the boy saw them, he grinned widely and ran over to the gazebo.

"'Morning guys!" he greeted with full of energy.

"Morning." Sakura said back.

Sasuke nodded.

And Hinata...stuttered. "G-Good M-Morning, Naruto-k-kun." she mumbled, her cheeks turning red. Sasuke easily concluded that the timid girl, likes the loud blonde, when the boy slung his arm around Hinata's shoulder in a friendly manner and her whole body turned crimson, and she almost looked ready to faint. Naruto seemed oblivious though as he continued babbling on.

"Good thing you're here Sakura-chan. I was looking all over for you!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Why? And before you answer that, let go of Hinata-chan you're..." Sakura tried to find the right word, to not make her friend's crushing on the blonde too obvious. The dark-haired girl was giving her a pleading look as if to tell her that it was all too much for her.

"I'm what?" Naruto prodded.

Sakura sighed. "...heavy. You're heavy and you're leaning your body on her too much."

"Oh! Why didn't you say so? 'Sorry Hinata-chan!" Naruto apologized, scratching the back of his head after letting go of the Hyuuga girl.

"I-It's o-okay." Hinata stumbled on her words, before mouthing a quick 'thank you' at her friend, who smiled slightly in return.

"You were saying Naruto?"

Naruto perked up again before answering with a proud grin on his lips. "It's done! Sai and I finished Sa-mmphf!"

All of the room's occupant were startled at how quick Sakura was able to get next to Naruto clamp her hand on the boy's mouth before he finished his sentence.

"Not here, baka!" she hissed at Naruto's ear to avoid being overheard. She only let the boy go when he nodded slowly in understanding.

"Sakura-chan? What's wrong?" Hinata asked concerned.

"Nothing Hina-chan. Don't mind it." she _almost _sounded agitated, making the silent Uchiha raise a curious eyebrow.

Before anyone could speak again, the bell had rang loudly indicating the start of classes.

"Hey, come on guys, let's go to class before we get late!" Sakura exclaimed with forced cheerfulness in her tone as she pulled Naruto by his collar, dragging him outside with her and continued talking to him in a hushed voice.

The two dark haired people left in the room lagged behind, blinking in confusion at the spot where they had last seen the two friends disappear to.

"You have a _very weird_ friend Hyuuga-san." Sasuke commented.

Hinata giggled lightly. "I wouldn't have her any other way."

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

"What's wrong with you Naruto? Didn't I tell you not to talk about it?" Sakura hissed on the blonde's ear, as she tugged at it, after making sure they were out of the hearing range of Sasuke and Hinata walking behind them.

"Ow! Sorry! I'm sorry Sakura-chan! I just got too excited!" Naruto whined in a low voice, rubbing his ear when the girl let go of him. "Besides, I don't see why you have to deprive the guy of his equipment. You'll be giving it to him soon anyways."

"Exactly. I want to know if he deserves it. If he has what it takes to be a Hunter, even if he's just a substitute, he has to prove it." Sakura answered him nonchalantly.

"Admit it. You just want to torture him." Naruto said as he rested his head on his arms that were placed behind his head.

Sakura grinned mischievously this time. "Seeing him suffer is just an added bonus."

"I knew it." the boy sighed, as they turned to the corner of the school building's hallway.

"What do you know?"

"Wah!" Naruto stumbled backwards in shock, when they suddenly saw Sai in front of them. "Damn it Sai! Don't just pop out of nowhere! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

The pale boy only gave him his usual smile. "I didn't pop out of nowhere. I was simply standing here when you arrived."

"Ha-ha. Very funny." Naruto rolled his eyes, as Hinata helped him to stand up.

"Good morning Hinata-san, Uchiha-san." Sai greeted. Hinata greeted him back while the Uchiha nodded in acknowledgement.

"Sai." the pink-haired girl called out.

"Sakura-chan," the boy finally turned his attention to the girl, taking note of her and the Uchiha's appearance. "How's the training going?"

"Okay. We just had a few warm-ups for later after school." Sakura shrugged.

_Few?_ Sasuke groaned inwardly.

"I hope you're not pushing Uchiha-san too hard." Sai said, making Sakura smirk.

"Of course not..._much._" the girl grinned, muttering the last word.

Sai gave the girl a knowing look, before sighing in defeat. "Kakashi-sensei won't be here for at least an hour so you can just get my spare undershirt there and use it." he advised.

"I'm fine with what I'm wearing." Sakura pouted. "I have my own spare but I'm saving it for later after school."

Sai only raised an eyebrow at her. "I will not have you walk around school drenched in sweat, with your shirt clinging to your body like _that_." he pointedly nodded his head in her direction, making the others notice the pinkette's form. Hinata and Naruto blushed for her sake, Sasuke kept a stoic expression and well, so did Sakura. "Those fan boys of yours would cause another crazy rampage around school."

"I'll just send them all to Hades." Sakura replied in a bored tone.

"I know you will. But you can just simply spare the trouble by changing." Sai still stated rather calmly.

"You can just use my spare on Sakura-chan." Hinata suggested.

Sakura sighed. "Fine."

"Bring Uchiha-san with you, he can just use my spare if he doesn't have one." Sai offered, surprising the Uchiha.

"Come along then Uchiha." Sakura grunted, walking ahead of them.

"Thanks." Sasuke murmured as he passed Sai and followed the girl.

* * *

><p>It took them about two minutes to get to Hinata's and Sai's lockers. Apparently, the girl knew her friend's locker combinations. Once she got the needed items, she led Sasuke to the nearest restroom and gave him the shirt. Both of them them wordlessly entered to their designated rest rooms to change. A few seconds later Sakura came out first.<p>

_Hmm, that's strange. I don't remember Hinata's shirts bigger than mine, except on the chest part, _Sakura thought inwardly, as she waited for the Uchiha. She started examining the shirt noticing that it went past her thighs. Sniffing the shirt, she caught the familiar clean scent of Sai, instead of Hinata's sweet, flowery scent.

"If I'm wearing this then..." before she could finish her sentence, Sasuke came out.

For the second time, Sakura couldn't contain the laughter spilling from her lips as she saw the young Uchiha. He also had a white shirt on but it was too tight for him that it almost looks like it's going to be ripped. It would've actually been an eye candy since the shirt clung to him like a second skin. But the fact that Sakura knew it was a girl's shirt he's wearing and that it's almost showing his belly button, made it hard for the girl to appreciate Sasuke's male assets.

"I...(laughs) I think I got the shirts mixed up." the girl struggled to keep a straight face.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. "You think?"

**_FLASH!_**

"What the-?!" Sasuke was cut-off by Sakura's chuckles.

"Good. Now I have a souvenir." Sakura stated, pocketing her cellphone quickly before the boy could snatch her phone and delete the picture she took.

"Delete those now!" Sasuke ordered.

The girl smirked. "You're not the boss of me, and even if you did get my phone, you won't even be able to guess my password."

Clenching his teeth together, he tried to reach her pocket but she easily evaded is attacks. "Give it!"

"Oh don't be such a baby Uchiha. It's not like I'll use it for blackmail." she rolled her eyes still avoiding his hands from getting close. '_...yet',_ she continued in her head hiding a mischievous grin.

Sasuke stopped after a few minutes thinking that he'll get his revenge soon. He was secretly and grudgingly impressed at her evading skills, concluding that the girl must have had a long experience in brawling.

"Why don't you just give me the shirt so we can switch? I'm expecting to give that back to Hinata-chan in one piece you know." the girl sighed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

He growled but decided not to argue. He was still tired from their morning exercise earlier anyway. Sasuke took off the shirt, somehow forgetting where he was, and gave it to Sakura.

"What in Hades are you doing?!" she exclaimed, her tone almost sounding like a squeak.

Sasuke only blinked blankly at her. "You told me to take it off."

"I didn't say in front of me, baka! Don't you have any decency in your body you pervert?!" she yelled irritably waving her hand at the half-naked body of her classmate. For any _normal_ girl, the sight of the Uchiha's flawless, pale skin, hard chest and awesome abs, would have cause a massive effect. You could easily imagine fan girls drooling or mouths foaming, some probably dropping dead with hearts in their eyes and nosebleeds on the floor making it look like a murder scene.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't actually know it would affect the girl since she has guy friends and she sometimes act like one. An idea suddenly lit up his mind and an evil glint sparkled in his dark, onyx eyes. _Pay back time..._

"Hey! What are you planning to do?! Don't you dare come near me, you pervert!" she shouted, slowly backing away as he went near her. She did not like the look on his face. She felt her back hit the cold wall, making her curse in Greek for her misfortune. Now she felt like a prisoner, especially when the boy blocked her other paths using his arms on both her sides.

"What's the matter, Weirdo? First time to see a shirtless guy?" he smirked, leaning forward.

Sakura almost snarled at him, trying to focus her eyes on his and not _elsewhere_. "No, I just hate it when I'm in the company of jerks like you!"

He smirk widened. And her glare intensified. "You've been with me all morning. I didn't hear you complaining about it."

"Step back or I swear I'll give you another punch and this time I'll make sure you don't wake up!" she hissed acidly at him.

"You'd risk losing your membership to your club?"

Sakura clenched her fist, unable to say a comeback.

"My, my, Ms. Hunter went quiet on me." he taunted.

"Shut up." she mumbled, shifting her feet, feeling uncomfortable at their lack of personal space.

"I didn't know you'd easily be embarrassed like that. Or is it just me?" he paused, suddenly becoming curious. "Tell me, are you becoming one of my fan girls now?"

Sakura couldn't bear with it anymore so despite her reluctance, she pushed him hard enough for her to escape. Sasuke was caught off guard so it was easy for her. "As if, Uchiha!" she muttered under her breath, trying to ignore the loud thumping of her chest, thinking it was simply caused by her anger.

What happened next shocked the Uchiha a lot and left him gaping.

Instead of her expected walk-out, the girl stood her ground. She gave him a death glare before taking off Sai's shirt off. Once it was done, she threw it at Sasuke's face and picked up Hinata's shirt, swiftly putting it on. She sighed and stared at him with a blank expression on her face, as if nothing had happened.

"Get dressed Uchiha. We need to get to class." she ordered, and without another word she turned and left.

After a moment of aimlessly staring into space, Sasuke did as what was told to him. He's somehow nervous that a fan girl might walk-in and see him shirtless, without Sakura to scare them away. By the time he got back to the classroom, their teacher was still not there, so he sat back on his chair and blocked his surroundings by tuning everything out. His mind replaying Sakura's bold act earlier. He knew it only happened for a few seconds before his face caught the shirt Sakura threw at him, but it felt like it happened in slow motion for him.

He saw it. No, it wasn't her smooth and soft-looking ivory skin, not her very attractive, lean curves and not even her sports brassiere-clad chest, though admittedly, it did distract him a bit (He's a guy after all).

It was that _scar_.

The scar that marred her flawless skin on the right side of her stomach, near her vital organs. It left him intrigued as he noticed that it looked like something had speared Sakura's flesh with something sharp and pointed. Almost like... an arrow.

He glanced behind him, and watched his pink-haired trainer chat with her dark-haired friend, one thought plaguing his head.

_Who did that to her?_

* * *

><p><strong><em>...<em>**

"Excuse me?"

Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously snapped their heads back to check the voice's owner. There they saw Sakura, arms crossed again same as her brows which clearly showed her annoyance for whatever reason. He got curious as to Sakura's reaction earlier when Naruto came at the gazebo. So he asked the blonde to show him how he makes their members' equipment. He might find out their _'secret' _or better yet, he might know something about her scar. Honestly, the scar interests him a bit. But, they were just about to enter Naruto's workshop when the pinkette spotted them and spoke.

"Oi! Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke just raised a brow.

Her glare didn't waver. "What are you doing here?"

"Uhm, it's my place?" Naruto innocently answered back.

"I'm talking to him!" she pointed to Sasuke.

He smirked.

"You abandon your training and I will just find you here trolling around?" she snarled at him.

"You call that training?" he shot back. Sakura clenched her fists.

"H-hey! Calm down guys!" Naruto stood in front of Sasuke. "Sakura-chan, I was just about to show Sasuke how I do stuff here. You don't have to**–**" He was cut off by Sakura's eyes narrowing, then he caught on. "R-Right. Not butting in, sorry." He turned to Sasuke this time. "I think you have to go with her now. You can come back here when she already gave**–**"

"Naruto!" she threw him a knowing look as if silencing him. Sasuke starting to feel odd.

"P-permission! I was about to say permission! Yes..." he said like convincing himself while feigning laughter and scratching the back of his head.

"Although this is your cabin?"

"Yeah, you're right..." he said pondering.

"Because you are my trainee and you can't just do anything on your own without my authorization." she answered for Naruto. "And I'm not allowing you to go to this place until I say so." she said imperatively.

"What's new?" he said grumpily.

"I heard that Uchiha and shut up!"

"What are you so angry about?" he countered. "You didn't inform me what time our training is."

She shoved Naruto to the side, as she approached the raven-haired teen with a dark look on her face. "If not for Captain, you are _so_ dead right now. Your soul is being ripped off in Tartarus and will stay on the Fields of Punishment forever."

This time Sasuke didn't smirk. He stared back at Sakura's eyes glowing with dismay, one thought formulating on his mind. To Sakura, it was as if he is infuriating her by silence. It's like he didn't hear anything that she said when in fact she just threatened him.

To her surprise, he took off his shirt.

Sakura's reaction was immediate. Her eyes literally bulged for a second before she hid it with a glare but not the color of her cheeks that has a slightest tint of pink. "In _Zeus' _name, what are you doing?!"

"You said we'll have training." He put up a blank face.

"What, are you an exhibitionist now?" she grunted, while her eyes are shifting. "You can't just go shirtless whenever you like! You might get cold**–"**

"Sakura-chan..."

"What?!" she snapped at Naruto.

"It's summer."

* * *

><p>"Another fifty!" Sakura ordered harshly under a tree, looking at Sasuke doing push-ups under the glint of noontime sun. It actually amazes her a little how he endures it despite the heat and how his skin looks so good when its tan. Well, that's his fault for messing with her earlier. He just embarrassed her in front of Naruto. (yes, it's his fault) She unconsciously checked her trainee's condition but he's gone. She felt movement behind her. She looked back. Sasuke's kneeling while panting in front of his duffel bag and got his bottle of water. He drank a little then emptied the contents onto his hair, like taking a semi-bath.<p>

She went to him. "When did I ever say that you could rest?"

"I don't need to follow all your orders. Especially if it's just for intentionally torturing me."

She gritted her teeth. "And you dare answer me like that?"

"All right sadist, if you are really watching over me while I'm training, you would know that I've finished the _fifth_ round of push-ups you just said."

She raised an eyebrow. _That fast? _she thought. "Okay then**–**"

He cut her off. "Hold on. Am I not entitled for a break here?"

"No."

"Good. Because I'm not obeying you." he said then sat beside his bag, leaning on a tree.

"What?!" she yelled, putting her hands on her hips.

Sasuke got impatient and stood up. He was attempting to leave when she took hold of his shoulder and sharply made him turn around to face her. This girl really is aggravating him. Who is she anyway? No one can order him around and he can't tolerate her anymore. Her training methods are getting personal.

He stepped closer to her. "You heard me right. I'm taking my break."

"We have a contract Uchiha! You will follow my conditions!" she responded then step back.

He took another step. "I don't remember signing a contract of getting myself killed at the end of this training."

"So you're being stubb**–**" she was cut off when she felt the roughness of the tree collided on her back. She suddenly became aware of their distance. It was like their position this morning except for one thing. She unconsciously gulped when she saw Sasuke's eyes glower in menace, red tints almost showing on those obsidian orbs.

"What?!" she shouted at him.

"No one ever tries to look down on me. So don't even boss me around."

"And so?"

"Tomorrow same time. You and me to a match. I don't care whatever it is, it's your call."

"Are you sure you're challenging me?" she scoffed.

"I hope you're not afraid of losing." He smirked then he left her but not before poking her forehead just like what Itachi used to do to him.

* * *

><p><strong>duchess: My, my, Sakura you just angered Sasuke there. fufu! And oh, I didn't know you have weakness with topless guys! :3<strong>

**Sakura : I do not have that kind of _sick_ weakness! How dare you-**

**blackheart01: Hey, Saki-chan look! Sasuke's taking his shirt off again... huh...(turns head to the right) Saki-chan? (turns head to the left) Where did she go?**

**duchess: She just left, mentioning something about some errand to run. (sweatdrops)**

**Sasuke: I thought I was rich in this story? Why can't you just buy me some more?**

**blackheart01: (shrugs) Too boring. Fan girls love it anyway.**

**Sasuke: I'm surrounded by sadists...**

**Duchess has signed out.**

**blackheart01 has signed out. **


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